TikTok’s S’porean CEO grilled in Congress: What’s next for the platform in the US?

TikTok chief executive

Chew Shou Zi was grilled by lawmakers for more than five hours

on Thursday, as he tried to protect his company from a potential United States ban or forced sale.

During the US Congress hearing, Mr Chew was questioned on the video app’s potential to harm children through its possibly dangerous posts and addictive features, and whether data from American users could end up in the hands of the Chinese government through its China-based owner, ByteDance.

We take a look at what lies ahead for TikTok in the US.

Why did Mr Chew need to explain TikTok to Congress?

TikTok has 150 million users in the US. In 2021 and 2022, TikTok was the top downloaded app, according to data from analytics firm Sensor Tower.

The app’s popularity among Americans

carries geopolitical implications, as China is known to be interested in having its tech companies share the data they have collected, reported Bloomberg.

US government officials and lawmakers have complained that ByteDance is able to pass users’ data to the government in Beijing. They have been calling for TikTok to be removed from app stores unless it is sold to a US company.

During the hearing, Mr Chew repeatedly denied that the app shares data or has any connection with the Communist Party of China. He argued that the platform was doing everything to ensure the safety of its American users.

For more than two years, TikTok has been “building what amounts to a firewall to seal off protected US user data from unauthorised foreign access”, said Mr Chew.

“The bottom line is this: American data stored on American soil, by an American company, overseen by American personnel.”

Concerns were raised in December 2022

when ByteDance said it had fired four employees who accessed data on two journalists from the Financial Times and Buzzfeed News, while the employees were attempting to track down the source of a leaked report about the company.

Can Congress ban TikTok?

In August 2020,

then US President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping bans

on US transactions with ByteDance. But this was stalled in the courts until Mr Trump’s term as president ended.

President Joe Biden chose a different course, and initiated a national security review of the app.

The

Biden administration has also pressed ByteDance recently

to divest its stake in TikTok or face a ban in the US.

In December 2022, the US government approved an unprecedented ban on the use of TikTok on federal government devices.

Then in January, Republican Senator Josh Hawley introduced a Bill to ban TikTok for all Americans.

In early March, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to approve a Bill that could grant a president the authority to ban the platform.

Twenty senators – 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans – have backed bipartisan legislation giving Mr Biden’s administration a path to ban TikTok.

Ms Caitlin Chin, a fellow at American think-tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies, told The New York Times that a broader, government-imposed ban that stops Americans from using an app could face legal challenges on First Amendment grounds.

“In democratic governments, the government can’t just ban free speech or expression without very strong and tailored grounds to do so, and it is just not clear that we have that yet,” she said.

How will this impact TikTok’s future?

It is still not known if TikTok will be banned in the US, but advertisers are already seeking assurances over its data from the app, reported Reuters.

Reuters said that at least one major ad company held a call this week with TikTok sales representatives in an attempt to learn more about its data security practices.

The report added that TikTok has reportedly played up ongoing plans to separate the user data of Americans and store it in the country, a point that was also reiterated by Mr Chew at the hearing.

The data will be housed in a new division, US Data Security, which will be monitored by American tech company Oracle, an effort dubbed “Project Texas”.

Although TikTok provided an overview of Project Texas, the company was unable to answer more detailed questions about how it would block US user data from the Chinese government, said an executive of the ad company, who declined to be named.

Who are some popular American celebrities and big companies on TikTok?

Pop star Selena Gomez, Levi’s and Netflix are some of the big names that are on TikTok. Others include news outlet The Washington Post, fast-food chain Taco Bell and the National Basketball Association.

What has been the reaction on the ground in the US?

On Wednesday, a group of about 30 content creators gathered outside the US Capitol, some holding signs saying “Keep TikTok”.

About a dozen teenagers, business owners and teachers also

rallied at Congress, as they discussed their opposition to a potential ban.

They drew attention to the benefits of TikTok for their livelihoods and lives.

US media reported that some in the crowd said they

had been flown to Washington by the firm.

“I kind of built my business on TikTok, so this poses somewhat of a problem for me and my business,” aspiring soap-making entrepreneur @countrylather2020 told her 70,000 followers in a video recorded after she arrived in the capital.

Which places have bans on TikTok, and why?

India banned TikTok in mid-2020, citing

national security concerns.

The move came days after a border dispute between India and China that left 20 Indian soldiers dead.

In recent times, governments around the world have also imposed a ban on the usage of TikTok on government devices.

In December 2022,

Taiwan imposed a public sector ban on TikTok.

This came after the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned that the app posed a national security risk.

In March, Britain, Belgium and New Zealand also announced a ban on TikTok

on government devices over security concerns.