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TikTok CEO Zhou gets funding
At the U.S. Congressional hearing on Thursday (March 23), TikTok’s CEO Zhou was interviewed for more than four and a half hours.
Many tech executives have testified before Congress, and the journey has often been difficult.
However, in this unusual hearing, Zhou Shouzi accepted repeated questions from the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce (US House Committee on Energy and Commerce), among which there were many sharp and aggressive attacks.
Both Democrats and Republicans are holding on to it.
A TikTok spokesperson said afterwards that the politicians were “grabbing the crowd.” There is no doubt some truth to this statement.
Zhou Shouzi’s interest relationship with TikTok and its parent company ByteDance was the first target of the attack in this hearing, although Zhou Shouzi tried his best to play down the relationship between himself and ByteDance and even the Chinese Communist Party. associated allegations.
Another issue involved in the inquiry is user data security. Zhou Shouzi repeatedly emphasized that TikTok will store all data on servers in the United States, which will be audited by American companies and engineers.
In addition, issues such as the regulation of content such as self-harm, fake news and information harmful to children were questioned by both parties at the hearing.scope
In general, Democratic and Republican congressmen had a high degree of consistency in their negative attitudes towards TikTok and Zhou Shouzi at this hearing, but a BBC reporter reported that several congressmen said that after the marathon questioning, they still felt There are more questions than answers.
The Biden administration is concerned that TikTok user data may fall into the hands of the Chinese government and has demanded that its parent company divest from its U.S. operations or face a ban.
But even so, we can still learn some important points from it.
Here are five key moments from the hearing, summarized by James Clayton, the BBC’s North American technology correspondent.
Weekly funded kids don’t use TikTok
At one point during the hearing, Zhou was asked by Congressman Nanette Barragán, a Democrat, if his own children were using TikTok.
They don’t use it because they live in Singapore, he said. In that country, there is no version of the app for children under 13.
A kids version of the app is available in the U.S., he said, and he would let his kids use it if they were there.
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TikTok CEO Chow was paid to testify before the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
ByteDance engineers in China have access to some U.S. data
Zhou Shouzi has been talking about a policy called “Project Texas” (Project Texas), all data stored in the United States will be under the supervision of the American company Oracle.
However, the Texas program is not yet fully operational. Zhou Shouzi confirmed that ByteDance engineers in China currently have access to the data.
“We rely on global interoperability, with Chinese engineers having access to data,” he said.
The confirmation was something politicians have since repeated. Their argument is that if the data can be accessed by engineers inside China, it is hard to believe that the Chinese government cannot access it.
Zhou Shouzi holds shares in ByteDance
Perhaps Zhou Shouzi’s weakest defense is that he is trying to separate TikTok and ByteDance.
By any definition, the Chinese company owns TikTok. Zhou Shouzi himself was the chief financial officer of ByteDance.
When first asked, Zhou Shouzi didn’t want to say whether he held shares in ByteDance.
Pressed by lawmakers, he finally said he did, but still tried to play down the interest.
Strike back with the Cambridge Analytica case
For the most part, Zhou Shouzi has held back from pushing back aggressively at MPs, but there have been a few moments when he has fought back — and effectively.
Asked about TikTok’s use of user data, he said: “With all due respect, American companies don’t have a very good track record with data either…just look at Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. .”
This is a sarcastic comment, but it is a well-founded argument.
News that British political consultancy Qualified Analytics and other third-party apps harvested Facebook users’ personal information caused an uproar when it was disclosed in 2018.
Lawmakers unite against TikTok
Both parties have criticized TikTok from the very beginning, but the levels of suspicion and distrust from all parties are extremely consistent.
“Welcome to the most bipartisan committee in Congress,” said Republican Buddy Carter.
“Thank you, Mr. Chow, for bringing Republicans and Democrats together,” said Republican Dan Crenshaw.
It’s really a remarkable thing that so many politicians, who basically don’t agree on anything, agree that TikTok is a security threat.
TikTok complained afterwards that it did not have enough time to focus on the measures the platform used to ensure data security.
“Also not mentioned by committee members today: the livelihood of 5 million merchants on TikTok, and what the banning of a platform popular with 150 million Americans means for the (U.S. Constitution) First Amendment,” said a TikTok said the spokesman.
TikTok appears to be spending millions of dollars aggressively lobbying in Washington. If today’s situation is any guide, they’ll need to spend more.
