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As the Chinese company, TikTok, faces mounting pressure and calls to ban the app in the US, US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced on Sunday that lawmakers would move forward with legislation to address national security concerns over TikTok, claiming the Chinese government is looking at the app’s user data. .
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 to be true, which is that China has the right to access the data of TikTok users. TikTok.”
It is very worrying that the CEO of TikTok cannot be honest and admit what we already know to be true: China has access to TikTok user data.
The House will move forward with legislation to protect Americans from the Chinese Communist Party’s tech tentacles.
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) March 26, 2023
long interrogation
Interestingly, TikTok CEO Xu Zi Zhu faced lengthy questioning from US lawmakers on Thursday about the video-sharing app’s alleged ties to China and the danger it poses to teens.
Zhu said during the session that “ByteDance Company (which owns the application) is not affiliated or controlled by the Chinese government and is a privately held company,” adding that “60% of the company is owned by international investment institutions. The 20% is owned by its founder and 20% is owned by employees from around the world.” , according to AFP.
“clear and transparent rules”
He also explained: “We believe what is needed are clear and transparent rules that apply to all technology companies. Ownership is not a basis for addressing these concerns.”
But he stressed that some US data is still available for the company’s employees in China, saying, “Today, there is still some data that we need to get rid of.”
Calls are mounting in the US to ban TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, or to pass a bipartisan bill to give President Joe Biden administrative legal authority to call for a ban. The app was recently banned from downloading to US government-owned devices.
