Ajit Karn
Washington: Amidst mounting U.S. national security concerns, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will inform legislators that the Chinese-owned short video app with more than 150 million American users has never and will never share U.S. user data with the Chinese government.
“TikTok has never shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government, nor has it ever received a request to do so. According to written testimony posted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday, Chew will testify on Thursday that TikTok would not comply with such a request if it were ever made.
He added that no government or state entity owns or controls TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance. Chew will state unequivocally to the committee, “ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other nation.”
TikTok’s detractors are concerned that the app could share U.S. user data with the Chinese government, which has led to a rise in demands from U.S. legislators to ban the app. The Biden administration demanded that TikTok’s Chinese proprietors divest their stake in the app last week, or the app could be banned in the United States.
“Bans are only appropriate when all other options have been exhausted. However, we do have an alternative, according to Chew’s testimony.
TikTok has stated that it has spent more than $1.5 billion on “Project Texas,” a stringent data security initiative.
When the process is complete, according to Chew, “all protected U.S. data will be protected by U.S. law and under the control of the U.S.-led security team.” There is no means for the Chinese government to access or compel access under this structure.”
The company said it has begun deleting U.S. user-protected data in Virginia and Singapore data centres this month, one year after it began routing new U.S. data to the Oracle Cloud. According to Chew’s testimony, this process is expected to be completed later this year.
60% of ByteDance is owned by global institutional investors including Blackrock, General Atlantic, and Sequoia, 20% by the company’s founders, and 20% by its employees, “including thousands of Americans,” according to Chew’s testimony.
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TikTok announced on Monday that more than 150 million people in the United States use the app on a monthly basis, up from 100 million users in 2020. Chew’s testimony indicates that the average user today is an adult well beyond the age of college.
“Although American users account for 10% of our global community, they account for 25% of all global views,” according to Chew’s testimony.
Chew states that current app versions do not acquire precise or approximate GPS data from U.S. users.
