TikTok has recently aroused so much controversy that American politicians demanded explanations from the president of the company himself. The media is getting louder and louder about allegations regarding data security and privacy violations. But that’s not the end. The application was removed from the devices of American officials, as there were strong fears that the collected information was being transferred – at least in part – to the authorities of communist China.
TikTok is explaining itself to the congressional committee. The president assures: The application is not Chinese
Shou Chew began his speech before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce by reading a statement. And from assurances that TikTok is not a Chinese company, because ByteDance, the owner of the application, is an international corporation. He assured that the Chinese party had no access to American data.
TikTok had already tried to appease the US authorities by creating Project Texas, a project to transfer all American data to servers located in the US. If Chew thought that declarations made at the beginning of the testimony would answer most of the doubts, he was sorely mistaken.
The details of the hearing were described by Jakub Wątor on the Business Insider website, stating that congressmen asked less and less comfortable questions, and the president of TikTok tried to avoid clear answers as much as possible, although congressmen usually demanded a simple “yes” or “no”. Shou Chew claimed that he didn’t know the answer, that he had to consult the answer, or that the Texas Project was the answer.
The head of TikTok assured that the Chinese Communist Party has no voting rights in ByteDance.
You remind me a lot of Mark Zuckerberg. When he came here, I said to my staff, ‘He reminds me of Fred Astaire – he dances well with words.’ And you are doing the same today
– assessed Congressman Tony Cardenas, .
TikTok boss: Three out of five board members are American
The head of the controversial app also tried to use specific arguments to prove that TikTok is not Chinese. For example, he stated that the company’s headquarters are in Singapore and the US, and that three out of five board members are American. He also emphasized that he himself was not Chinese. Only 20% of the population is Chinese. company shares. 60 percent is in the hands of international capital.
How uncomfortable were the questions and how uncomfortable were the answers? Anna Eshoo asked Chew if he could promise that once the data is transferred to US servers, it will be properly protected. Instead of a clear declaration, she heard that the Chinese authorities had not requested access to American data.
You know very well that you will not protect the members of this committee or the 150 million American users because you are an extension of the Chinese Communist Party
said Kat Cammack.
There were more allegations: One congresswoman gave the example of a teenager who committed suicide “instructed” by videos he found in the application. Another politician gave the example of a video of someone using a gun threatening the chair of the commission.
Congressman Randy Weber, in turn, claimed that the application promoted Chinese authorities among American children. – May this commission get its way, it’s time for the end of TikTok! he said.
Source: Gazeta
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