TikTok has never shared U.S. data with Chinese government, says CEO
The Hindu
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to say that the Chinese video sharing app has never shared U.S. data with the Chinese government, and will never do so.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will tell lawmakers the Chinese-owned short video app with more than 150 million American users has never, and would never, share U.S. user data with the Chinese government amid growing U.S. national security concerns.
"TikTok has never shared, or received a request to share, U.S. user data with the Chinese government. Nor would TikTok honour such a request if one were ever made," Chew will testify on Thursday, according to written testimony posted on Tuesday by the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.
He added that TikTok's parent company ByteDance is not owned or controlled by any government or state entity. "Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country," Chew will say to the committee.
TikTok's critics fear that its U.S. user data could be passed on to China's government by the app and prompted growing calls to ban the app by U.S. lawmakers. Last week, TikTok said the Biden administration demanded that its Chinese owners divest their stake in the app or it could face a U.S. ban.
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"Bans are only appropriate when there are no alternatives. But we do have an alternative," Chew's testimony said.
TikTok has said it has spent more than $1.5 billion on what it calls rigorous data security efforts under the name "Project Texas."
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