TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will inform lawmakers the Chinese language-owned quick video app with greater than 150 million American customers has by no means, and would by no means, share U.S. person knowledge with the Chinese language authorities amid rising U.S. nationwide safety considerations.
“TikTok has by no means shared, or acquired a request to share, U.S. person knowledge with the Chinese language authorities. Nor would TikTok honor such a request if one had been ever made,” Chew will testify on Thursday, in keeping with written testimony posted on Tuesday by the Home of Representatives Vitality and Commerce Committee.
He added that TikTok’s guardian firm ByteDance isn’t owned or managed by any authorities or state entity. “Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance isn’t an agent of China or some other nation,” Chew will say to the committee.
TikTok’s critics worry that its U.S. person knowledge might be handed on to China’s authorities by the app and prompted rising calls to ban the app U.S. lawmakers. Final week, TikTok mentioned the Biden administration demanded that its Chinese language house owners divest their stake within the app or it may face a U.S. ban.
“Bans are solely applicable when there aren’t any alternate options. However we do have an alternate,” Chew’s testimony mentioned.
TikTok has mentioned it has spent greater than $1.5 billion on what it calls rigorous knowledge safety efforts below the identify “Mission Texas.”
Chew mentioned when the method is full “all protected U.S. knowledge will probably be below the safety of U.S. legislation and below the management of the U.S.-led safety crew. Below this construction, there isn’t a manner for the Chinese language authorities to entry it or compel entry to it.”
The corporate mentioned it had began this month to delete U.S. person protected knowledge in knowledge facilities in Virginia and Singapore after it began routing new U.S. knowledge to the Oracle Cloud final 12 months. Chew’s testimony mentioned it expects this course of to be accomplished later this 12 months.
Chew’s testimony says 60% of ByteDance is owned by international institutional traders together with Blackrock, Basic Atlantic,
and Sequoia, about 20% by the corporate’s founders, and about
20% owned by its staff “together with hundreds of People.”
TikTok mentioned on Monday that greater than 150 million folks in the US use TikTok on a month-to-month foundation after saying in 2020 that 100 million People used the app. Chew’s testimony says the common person at this time is an grownup properly previous faculty age.
“Whereas customers in the US symbolize 10% of our international neighborhood, their voice accounts for 25% of the overall views all over the world,” Chew’s testimony says.
Chew says present variations of the app don’t accumulate exact or approximate GPS data from U.S. customers.
