Congress Really, Really Doesn’t Like TikTok
TikTok’s CEO faced intense scrutiny from Congress’s Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday as the U.S. government continues to mull a potential ban or forced sale of the social media platform over privacy and security concerns.
For more than four hours, CEO Shou Chew faced probing questions from the bipartisan Congressional committee. The committee focused on TikTok and parent company ByteDance’s potential links to the Chinese Communist Party, but also zeroed in on content TikTok promotes that they say could be harmful to minors who use the app.
“From the data it collects to the content it controls, TikTok is a grave threat of foreign influence in American life,” committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said during her opening statement during the hearing, stating outright that “banning your platform will address the immediate effects.”
Frank Pallone, (D-N.J.) voiced similar concerns. “Big Tech has transformed the information superhighway into a super-spreader of harmful content, invasive surveillance practices and addictive and damaging design features,” Pallone said. “While TikTok videos provide a new, fun way for people to express their creativity and enjoy the videos of others, the platform also threatens the health, privacy and security of the American people. And I’m not convinced that the benefits outweigh the risks.”
TikTok itself has exploded in recent years as one of the most influential social media platforms in popular culture. Spearheading the rise of short-form video, TikTok has been an important ecosystem among content creators and influencers who’ve built significant followings on the platform. Meanwhile, the platform has also proven a powerful marketing and discovery tool in the music business, with many of the biggest hit songs of the past five years first blowing up on TikTok.
While the most damning allegations haven’t been proven — TikTok’s potential links to the Chinese government through its parent company — the Chinese international corporation ByteDance has been a source of U.S. government scrutiny for several years. The Trump Administration looked to ban or force a sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations in 2020. The Biden Administration is considering a starkly similar action now, according to several reports last week.
The committee was aggressive, if not a bit adversarial toward Chew and TikTok during parts of the hearing, with some members outright saying a ban was necessary during their statements, while others gave Chew little room to contextualize answers to tough yes or no questions. At one point, the committee had stated that ByteDance’s CEO is a member of the Chinese Communist Party, but as a rep for TikTok clarified, that is false.
During one exchange between Rep Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) and Chew, Dunn told the TikTok executive that “you have not given straightforward answers; we don’t find you credible on these things.” Chew retorted that “you have given me no time to answer your questions; I reject these characterizations.”
Ahead of the hearing, TikTok took the offensive, sending popular influencers on the app to Washington, D.C. to speak about the opportunities the platform has brought to them, while Chew took to TikTok earlier this week to warn users about the ban, and noting that over 150 million users — about half of the country — are now TikTok users.
During his opening testimony, Chew disputed much of the criticism, stating that the company doesn’t answer to the Chinese government and noting that ByteDance is 60 percent owned by international investors. He said that TikTok hasn’t shared American user data with China and wouldn’t do so if asked.
He referenced TikTok’s Project Texas, an initiative from TikTok that, when completed, would ensure all American user data on TikTok is stored in the U.S. Regarding safety concerns for minors, Chew touted features TikTok has added such as prohibiting direct messaging features for users under 16, as well as a one-hour watch limit for some of its minor users. (Regarding the latter feature, Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., noted that it’s easy for users to get around the time limit, as the New York Times reported Thursday.)
“The potential security, privacy and content manipulation concerns raised about TikTok are really not unique to us; the same issues apply to other companies,” Chew told the committee. We believe what’s needed are clear, transparent rules that apply broadly to all tech companies. Ownership is not at the core of addressing these concerns.”
Chew’s claims didn’t appear to quell many of the committee’s security concerns, as they spent much of the hearing asking the executive about who within TikTok and ByteDance has access to U.S. user data, citing numerous reports from news outlets regarding potential access of data in China and reports that TikTok allegedly surveilled journalists. The committee also cast worry over China’s ability to target certain groups with their data to spread misinformation. Even well past four hours of questioning, some committee members continued to repeat the same questions as their peers, asking if TikTok is controlled by the CCP despite Chew’s continuous response that it isn’t. If the goal for Chew was for TikTok to gain any trust from Congress, that didn’t happen.
“I find that absolutely preposterous,” Rep. Anna Eschoo (D-Calif.) told Chew of claims that China doesn’t have and has never asked for TikTok’s data. “When you look at [China’s] national law, these articles are very clear. I think there’s a real problem relative to our national security about the protection of the user data. I don’t believe you’ve done anything to convince us that the information of 150 million Americans” is safe from China,” she said.
“Shou came prepared to answer questions from Congress, but, unfortunately, the day was dominated by political grandstanding that failed to acknowledge the real solutions already underway through Project Texas or productively address industry-wide issues of youth safety,” TikTok said in a statement after the committee hearing. “Also not mentioned today by members of the Committee: the livelihoods of the 5 million businesses on TikTok or the First Amendment implications of banning a platform loved by 150 million Americans.”
While the security and privacy concerns were the larger issue among the committee members, content moderation and harmful content were also prominent discussion points.
At one point during the hearing, Florida Republican Congresswoman Kat Cammack showed a video she said was posted on TikTok over a month ago promoting violence against Rodgers and the rest of the Energy and Commerce Committee. (The video was removed within a few hours of Cammack showing it.) Soon after, Rep. Michael Bilarakis (R-Fla.) shared disturbing TikTok videos promoting suicide ideation, noting that the parents of a 16-year-old who died by suicide were in the hearing.
Multiple Congress members pointed toward criticism that TikTok is addictive, which they said makes minors more vulnerable to exposure to potentially damaging content. “Social media is designed to be addicting, that’s the business model, and your platform is the most addicting of all,” Rep. Kim Shchrier (D-Wash.) said.
While much of the questioning has been focused on harmful content, Chew contended that for the most part TikTok has more positive content than negative. “There is a lot of joy and positive that can be derived from the TikTok experience,” Chew said. “Yes, there are some bad actors who come in and pose violative content, and it’s our job to remove them.”
To call misinformation or potentially harmful content a uniquely TikTok issue would of course be inaccurate; extensive investigations have shown that apps like Meta’s Instagram contributes to mental health issues for teens as well. While multiple committee members acknowledged that content moderation is an industry-wide issue, the one key difference with TikTok, it seems, is which government the platform may report to.
“We need to address privacy, I agree with you, but with respect, American social companies don’t have a good track record with data privacy and user security,” Chew said when asked about the prospect of ByteDance divesting from TikTok. “Look at Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.”