TikTok CEO to testify earlier than Congress in March

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CNN
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TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify at an upcoming listening to earlier than the Home Vitality and Commerce Committee, a committee spokesperson confirmed to CNN Monday.

Chew would be the sole witness on the listening to, scheduled for March 23. He’s anticipated to testify on TikTok’s privateness and knowledge safety practices, its impression on younger customers, and its “relationship to the Chinese Communist Party,” based on a listening to announcement on the committee’s web site.

“We’ve made our concerns clear with TikTok,” stated the committee’s chair, Washington Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, in a press release. “It is now time to continue the committee’s efforts to hold Big Tech accountable by bringing TikTok before the committee to provide complete and honest answers for people.”

Chew’s upcoming testimony was first reported by The Wall Road Journal.

“We welcome the opportunity to set the record straight about TikTok, ByteDance, and the commitments we are making to address concerns about U.S. national security before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce,” Brooke Oberwetter, a spokesperson for TikTok, stated in a press release. “We hope that by sharing details of our comprehensive plans with the full Committee, Congress can take a more deliberative approach to the issues at hand.”

The high-profile listening to underscores the rising political danger for TikTok as its negotiations with the US authorities on a nationwide safety deal proceed to tug on.

US officers have raised considerations that China may use its legal guidelines to stress TikTok or its guardian, ByteDance, at hand over US person knowledge that could possibly be used for intelligence or disinformation functions. These considerations have prompted the US authorities to ban TikTok from official units, and greater than half of US states have taken related measures, based on a CNN evaluation.

Chew, who took over as TikTok CEO in April 2021, has largely stayed out of the highlight at a time when the app he leads can’t appear to keep away from it. Members of Congress beforehand grilled TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas, arguably the general public face of the corporate in the US, throughout a Senate listening to final 12 months.