While the legislators of most of the states in the United States analyze the total ban for Tiktok, the CEO of the social network, Shou Zi Chew, appeared before the House of Representatives.
For more than five hours we listen to questions, arguments and statements related to matters of national security, data leaks, etc.
What was what happened? Let’s go by parts
The appearance of the CEO of Tiktok before the United States Congress
One of the main concerns, if not the most important, is the collection of data by the application, information that is allegedly shared with the Chinese Communist Party.
Officials using government cell phones were initially banned from using TikTok for security reasons. Now the proposal is to ban it for everyone in the United States altogether.
Does China have access to US user data?
Tiktok CEO Shou Zi Chew claimed throughout that ByteDance is a private company that it is not owned by the government and that it does not provide information to the Chinese government, or to any other.
What’s more, he said he has hired thousands of Americans and that most of the investors are from other countries, not China. Faced with constant questions from legislators, Chew admitted that Chinese engineers do have access to information.
He stated that Tiktok is not available in China and that they have headquarters in Los Angeles and Singapore. And even though he claimed that he hasn’t seen any proof that the Chinese government has access to the app’s data, everything seems to indicate that the legislators were not convinced otherwise.
He explained that one of the commitments of the platform is that the data of American users is stored in the United States and that they are supervised by gringo personnel. But this hasn’t happened yet and if they end up banning it, it’s going to be very complicated.
That what Tiktok does is not different from what other social networks do, such as Facebook
As lawmakers talked about the importance of protecting privacy, Tiktok CEO He explained that there are companies in the United States that are not a benchmark in data protection either.
He put on the table the case of Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, which also reached Congress to deliver accounts.
Chew claimed that in reality no government device should have social media apps and not just Tiktok. He stated that the current versions of the application They do not collect accurate GPS information from users in the United States.
Tiktok and the effects on minors
One of the claims by US legislators is that the social network is designed to be addictive, especially for children and adolescents.
Chew explained that they are working with a specialized health center in the United States to implement a feature that limits the time minors spend in the app. What’s more, it should be a function that invites them to rest or do other types of activities.
The legislators spoke about the risk that minors have before the social network, such as exposure to viral challenges that have already led several people to death. They affirmed that limiting the time, with a voluntary function, is not enough.
