As the Chinese company, TikTok, faces increasing pressure and calls to ban the app in the United States, US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Sunday that lawmakers will move forward with legislation to address national security concerns about TikTok, claiming that the Chinese government is looking at the data of the app’s users. .
McCarthy, who belongs to the Republican Party, said on Twitter: “It is very disturbing that the CEO of TikTok cannot tell the truth and acknowledge what we already know is true, which is that China has the right to access the data of TikTok users.”
It’s very concerning that the CEO of TikTok can’t be honest and admit what we already know to be true—China has access to TikTok user data.
The House will be moving forward with legislation to protect Americans from the technological tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party.
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) March 26, 2023
long questioning
It is noteworthy that TikTok CEO Xu Zi Zhu faced a long questioning from US lawmakers Thursday about the video-sharing application’s alleged ties to China and the danger it poses to teenagers.
Zhu said during the session that “ByteDance Company (which owns the application) is not affiliated with or controlled by the Chinese government and is a private company,” adding that “60% of the company is owned by international investment institutions. 20% is owned by its founder and 20% is owned by employees all over the world.” , according to AFP.
CEO of the TikTok application Shu Shi Chu before Congress in Washington, Thursday (Reuters)
“clear transparent rules”
He also explained: “We believe what is required is clear, transparent rules that apply to all technology companies – ownership is not a basis for addressing these concerns.”
But he pointed out that some US data is still available to the company’s employees in China, saying: “Today, there is still some data that we need to delete.”
Calls are mounting in the United States to ban TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance, or to pass a bipartisan bill to give President Joe Biden the administrative legal authority to request a ban. Recently, the app was banned from downloading on US government-owned devices.
