TikTok CEO grilled on Capitol Hill as platform faces potential US ban

Publish date: 2024-05-06

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House lawmakers eviscerated TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew over harmful content and national security risks posed by the popular video-sharing app during a tense hearing in Washington on Thursday.

During one of the most emotional outbursts, Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) confronted Chew about the suicide of 16-year-old Chase Nasca, who died last year after allegedly being exposed to TikTok videos promoting suicide.

Nasca’s parents, who have filed a wrongful death suit against TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, were seen in tears as Bilirakis played similar videos for attendees during the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing chaired by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.).

“Mr. Chew, your company destroyed their lives,” Bilirakis railed.

Chew described Nasca’s death as “devastating” and “tragic.”

“We do take these issues very seriously and we do provide resources for anybody that types in anything suicide-related,” Chew said.

In another tense exchange, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) played a TikTok video showing a gun firing with the caption “Me asf at the House Energy and Commerce Committee on 03/23/2023.” McMorris Rodgers was tagged in the video.

Cammack alleged the video was published before the hearing was publicly announced and that it has been online for 41 days without action from TikTok.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. AFP via Getty Images

“It is a direct threat to the chairwoman of this committee, the people in this room, and yet it still remains on the platform,” Cammack said. “You expect us to believe that you are capable of maintain[ing] the data security of 150 million Americans when you can’t even protect the people in this room?”

Chew asked to respond to the video but was cut off by the chairwoman.

Chew’s closely watched appearance comes as lawmakers from both parties push for a nationwide ban on TikTok due to national security concerns. Critics have alleged that China can use the platform to snoop on the more than 150 million users in the US.

“I have seen no evidence that the Chinese government has access to that data,” Chew said. “They have never asked us, we have not provided. I have seen no evidence of this happening.”

Earlier Thursday, China said it would “firmly oppose” calls for TikTok parent ByteDance to divest its ownership stakes or be banned in the US — a declaration that raised fresh concern about Beijing’s role in the company.

The packed hearing began with scathing remarks from McMorris Rodgers, who immediately expressed her support for a TikTok ban while blasting the platform’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The TikTok boss faced tough direct questioning about harmful content on the platform and its effects on underage users. REUTERS
Questions directed at Chew included online trends linked to the injuries and deaths of users. AP

“We do not trust TikTok will ever embrace American values,” McMorris Rodgers said.

“TikTok has repeatedly chosen the path for more control, more surveillance, and more manipulation. Your platform should be banned,” she added.

The chair also alleged that TikTok has “repeatedly been caught in the lie that it does not answer to the CCP through ByteDance.”

Chew, who waffled between defiance and contrition in his first appearance on Capitol Hill, said he takes the US government’s concerns about national security “very, very seriously” and was committed to keeping the platform’s content “free from any manipulation from any government.”

A TikTok video about committing suicide seen here has been circulating on the social media platform. Reuters
Another video on TikTok shows a young man sharing what his family and friends said about his death. Reuters
Dean Nasca is the father of a son who allegedly committed suicide after receiving unsolicited suicide videos in TikTok. AFP via Getty Images
Nasca was emotional while listening to Chew testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. REUTERS
Rep. Kat Cammack played a TikTok video showing a gun firing with the caption “Me asf at the House Energy and Commerce Committee on 03/23/2023.” REUTERS

The TikTok CEO touted his company’s $1.5 billion effort to protect and store US user data on American soil through a partnership with Oracle — an initiative known internally as “Project Texas.”

TikTok is willing to offer “third-party monitoring of our source code” to reassure lawmakers, Chew added.

Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-Ga.) spoke during the hearing titled “TikTok: How Congress Can Safeguard American Data Privacy and Protect Children from Online Harms.” REUTERS
Chew added that TikTok would prioritize protecting its teenage users from harmful content. AFP via Getty Images

“There are more than 150 million Americans who love our platform and we know we have a responsibility to protect them,” Chew said.

Chew irritated lawmakers from both parties with evasive responses to some questions — often declining to answer “yes or no” queries or telling lawmakers he would need to follow up with a written response after the hearing.

Chew’s assurances about US data protection practices failed to convince lawmakers.

The committee’s ranking member, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), was among those who argued that TikTok’s partnership with Oracle was not a real solution to privacy concerns.

Chew said he takes the US government’s concerns about national security “very, very seriously.” Getty Images
“There are more than 150 million Americans who love our platform and we know we have a responsibility to protect them,” Chew said. REUTERS

“I still believe that the Beijing Communist government will still control and have the ability to influence what you do,” Pallone said. “This idea, this ‘Project Texas’ is simply not acceptable.”

Officials from the US Committee on Foreign Investment — an interagency task force that assesses potential national security risks in business deals — recently issued a demand that ByteDance executives sell their stakes in TikTok or face a ban.

Chew and other TikTok officials have argued that divestment is not a solution to questions about potential national security risks.

Former President Donald Trump pursued a ban on TikTok in 2020, but the effort was eventually struck down in federal court.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

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