Cruz pushes TikTok over company's ties to China in social media giant's first-ever Senate testimony

TikTok's head of public policy Michael Beckerman told lawmakers at a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday that the social media company considers ByteDance, its Beijing-based parent company, to be a part of its "corporate group."

The acknowledgment, which came after intense questioning from Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, is a critical distinction for lawmakers who expressed concerns about TikTok's data collection policies and ties to the Chinese government.

"Access for our data is done by our U.S. teams," Beckerman said, "if we are to collect biometric information, which we do not collect biometric information data to identify Americans, we would provide consent and opportunity for consent first."