Watch dwell: TikTok CEO testifies earlier than Home committee as potential U.S. ban looms

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TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify earlier than the Home Vitality and Commerce Committee on Thursday morning as his firm fights to stave off a possible ban within the U.S.

Chew plans to inform Congress that he strongly prioritizes the security of customers, significantly teenagers, and that TikTok will firewall U.S. consumer information from “unauthorized international entry.” Chew additionally plans to say that the corporate “won’t be manipulated by any authorities” and it is going to be clear and permit impartial screens to evaluate its compliance.

TikTok has touted a posh plan often called Venture Texas to assist ease U.S. considerations over its possession. Underneath the plan, it’ll base its U.S. information operations domestically and permit its code to be reviewed and despatched to the app shops by outdoors events.

TikTok is owned by Chinese language web big ByteDance, and there are longstanding fears amongst U.S. policymakers that the Chinese language authorities may drive TikTok to show over the huge trove of non-public information it collects as a part of its enterprise mannequin.

After two years of negotiations with the Committee on International Funding in the US, or CFIUS, the White Home reportedly demanded final week that ByteDance promote TikTok. On Thursday, a Chinese language commerce ministry spokeswoman mentioned, “If the information is true, China will resolutely oppose it.”

The Biden administration has additionally thrown its help behind a brand new bipartisan Senate invoice that might give the Commerce Division the ability to ban TikTok in the US. That invoice and others prefer it in Congress have attracted scores of co-sponsors, each Democrats and Republicans.

TikTok grew to become a viral sensation within the U.S. by permitting customers — significantly younger individuals — to create and share brief movies. The corporate introduced this week that it has 150 million customers in the US, a determine that, if confirmed, quantities to just about half of the U.S. inhabitants.