CEO Shou Zi Chew of TikTok claims that the Chinese government was never given access to any of its users' personal information.

NDTV || Shining BD

Published: 3/22/2023 6:08:58 AM

In light of growing U.S. national security concerns, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will inform lawmakers that the Chinese-owned short video app, which has more than 150 million American users, has never shared user data with China and never will.

"TikTok has never given the Chinese government access to U.S. user data or been asked to do so. According to written testimony posted on Tuesday by the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, Chew will testify on Thursday that TikTok would not comply with such a request even if it were made.

He also said that no government or state entity owns or controls ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. Chew will tell the committee, "Let me say this clearly: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country.

Critics of TikTok worry that the app might give their country's user data to China's government, which has increased calls for the app to be outlawed by American legislators. TikTok claimed last week that the Biden administration had ordered its Chinese owners to sell their shares in the app or risk having the U.S. ban the app.

"Bans should only be used when there are no other options. However, we do have a choice, according to Chew's testimony.

According to TikTok, it has invested more than $1.5 billion in "Project Texas," a program that it calls "rigorous data security efforts."

When the procedure is finished, "all protected U.S. data will be protected by U.S. law and under the control of the U.S.-led security team," according to Chew. The Chinese government cannot access it or force access to it under this structure.

The business claimed that after starting to route new American data to the Oracle Cloud last year, it had begun this month to delete American user-protected data stored in data centers in Singapore and Virginia. According to Chew's testimony, this procedure is anticipated to be finished later this year.

According to Chew's testimony, global institutional investors like Blackrock, General Atlantic, and

20% by the company's founders, 20% by Sequoia, 20% by

Employees, "including thousands of Americans," own 20% of the company.

After claiming in 2020 that 100 million Americans used the app, TikTok announced on Monday that more than 150 million Americans now regularly use the service. According to Chew's testimony, the typical user today is an adult who has finished college.

Despite making up 10% of our global community, users in the United States account for 25% of all views, according to Chew's testimony.
According to Chew, the app's most recent iterations do not record exact or approximative GPS data from users in the United States.
 

Shining BD