The CEO of TikTok Shou Zi Chew was questioned this Thursday, March 23, 2023 by the US Congress, in the framework of the examination of a bipartisan law, the RESTRICT Act, which could lead to the prohibition of TikTok in the United States.
Suspected by regulators of passing on their data to the Chinese Communist Party, the social network was criticized by elected lawmakers, who also criticized TikTok for its “addictive algorithm,” which would be detrimental to the mental health of its young users.
Data accessible to Chinese employees
From the beginning, the tone was set: “We don’t believe them,” said Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chair of Parliament’s Energy and Trade committee, who summoned Shou Zi Chew to a hearing.
“ByteDance is indebted to the Chinese Communist Party and ByteDance and TikTok are the same thing,” he said.
To stay on US soil, TikTok could be ordered to separate from its parent company, the Chinese group ByteDance, which also owns the social network Douyin. “The Chinese government does not own or control ByteDance. It is a private company,” the leader defended himself during his opening speech.
“I’m one of those who don’t believe there really is a private sector in China,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo, referring to Chinese law that forces Chinese companies to share their data if imposed by Beijing. On Monday, the spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce also publicly opposed the sale of TikTok, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The Harvard-educated Singaporean boss lost his trust when he admitted the platform still had old data from American users stored on servers accessed by Chinese employees.
The leader continued to highlight the future “Texas Project”, which consists of hosting the data of the country’s 150 million users in the United States alone, on servers belonging to the Texan Oracle group.
“Today, there is still data that we have to delete,” he admitted, however.
According to TikTok, US users account for 10% of its global base, but 25% of views. “There’s no evidence that the Texas project is anything less than a marketing gimmick,” said Cathy McMorris Rodgers, referring to the fact that storing data in one place doesn’t stop anyone else from seeing it.
harmful algorithm
Congress also raised the issue of the platform’s recommendation algorithms, which mechanically highlight popular videos, including ones promoting anorexia, drugs or dangerous challenges.
Present in the room were the parents of a 16-year-old boy who died by throwing himself under a train after being inspired by suicide videos discovered on TikTok, according to Florida Republican elected official Gus Bilirakis. “His business destroyed their lives,” the rep claimed.
The TikTok CEO recalled his financial efforts for further moderation, adding that viewing time is limited to 60 minutes for those under 18, a feature that is, however, limited by the lack of age verification. He also insisted on the creative aspect of the platform, adding that many users have relied on the content available on TikTok to kick their addictions.
Discussions also centered on disinformation videos spread on the social network, including those containing false election dates that could mislead American voters. Currently, a piece of legislation, Section 230, protects platforms from legal action for the content that their users post. But several recent cases brought before Congress tend to question the responsibility of social networks in highlighting the content recommended by their algorithm.
missing evidence
But the low wounds on the side of the prosecution about the possible exchange of data with Beijing. The White House, the European Commission, and the Canadian and British governments did not wait for concrete evidence to ban their officials from using TikTok.
Earlier this month, Forbes revealed that the US Department of Justice and the FBI had opened an investigation into possible spying on three of its journalists by the Chinese app. An independent investigation has concluded that the TikTok code does not differ from that of other social networks such as Facebook or Instagram in terms of the collection of personal data.
“Our analysis made it clear that we have no visibility into what happens to user data once it is collected and transmitted to the TikTok servers”, however, the director of Citizen Lab, Ronald Deibert, specified before the hearing, as a congressman recalled. “(…)
We even speculate about possible mechanisms through which the Chinese government could use unconventional techniques to obtain user data by putting pressure on ByteDance”, says the founder of this citizen platform.
Source: BFM TV
