From the debut of the TikTok CEO in the hot seat 5 quick points 2023

 “ To the American people watching moment, hear this TikTok is a armament by the Chinese Communist Party to asset on you, manipulate what you see and exploit for unborn generations, ” saidRep. McMorris Rodgers.

But since the Chinese government has so important influence over companies under its governance, the proposition goes that ByteDance and, by extension, TikTok, may have to cooperate with a wide range of security conditioning, conceivably including the transmission of TikTok's data.

We've heard important enterprises about unwanted alien access to US data and possible manipulation of the TikTok system in the US. Our approach has noway been to dismiss or play down any of these enterprises. We've addressed them with real action

numerous of Chew's attempts to stress that his company isn't an arm of the Chinese government feel to have fallen on deaf cognizance. Several members of Congress intruded the CEO's evidence to say they simply didn't believe him.

In an exchange with California DemocraticRep. Anna Esho, Chiu spoke about TikTok's ongoing sweats to cover US stoner data and said he" has seen no substantiation that the Chinese government has access to that data; they noway asked us, nor did we give it."

Isshu replied “ I find this to be unreasonable indeed

Chiu replied," I have looked — and have not seen any substantiation of that passing." Our commitment is to transfer their data to the United States, to be stored on American soil by an American company, which is overseen by American labor force. So the threat would be the same as any government going to a US company asking for data. ”

" I do not suppose TikTok- that you said or did anything to move us," Esho said.

TikTok CEO stresses its practices are no different than US tech titans

As lawgivers doubled down on their questions about TikTok’s data collection practices, Bite also emphasized that the data TikTok collects is data “ that’s constantly collected by numerous other companies in our assiduity. 

“ We're committed to be veritably transparent with our druggies about what we collect, ” Bite said. “ I do n’t believe what we collect is further than utmost players in the assiduity. ”

Still, indeed if TikTok collects about the same quantum of information as Facebook or Twitter, that’s still quite a lot of data, including information about the vids you watch, comments you write, private dispatches you shoot, and if you agree to grant this position of access — your exact geolocation and contact lists.( On Thursday, Chew said that current performances of TikTok don't collect precise GPS information from US druggies.)

Independent experimenters have backed Chew’s assertions. In 2020, The Washington Post worked with a sequestration experimenter to look under the hood at TikTok, concluding that the app doesn't appear to collect any further data than your typical mainstream social network. The ensuing time, Pellaeon Lin, a Taiwan- grounded experimenter at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, performed another specialized analysis that reached analogous conclusions.

Civil government ratchets up its rhetoric

Outside the hail room, civil officers appeared to ramp up their rhetoric about TikTok.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said TikTok should be “ ended one way or another, ” but noted “ there are different ways of doing that. ” Speaking at a separate House Foreign Affairs Committee hail, Blinken said he didn't know if it would be sufficient for TikTok to be divested from its Chinese parent company.

The top US diplomat said he believed the app is a trouble to US public security, but would not outright say that it should be banned. “ easily, we, the administration and others are seized with the challenge that it poses and are taking action to address it, ” he said.

In a separate statement on Thursday that didn't address or name TikTok specifically, the US Treasury Department — the agency that chairs the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States( CFIUS) — advised that it “ will not clear any sale unless it determines there are no undetermined public security enterprises. ”

“ Astronomically speaking, some deals can present data security pitfalls including furnishing a foreign person or government with access to troves of Americans ’ sensitive particular data as well as access to intellectual property, source law, or other potentially sensitive information, ” a Department prophet said. “ CFIUS, on a case- by- case base, will insure the protection of public security, including to help the abuse of data through spying, shadowing, and other means that hang public security. ”

For further than two times, CFIUS and TikTok have been negotiating on a possible deal that might address US security enterprises and allow the app to continue operating in the United 

States.

TikTok CEO in the hot seat 5 takeaways from his first appearance before Congress

But in his evidence, Bite tried to ease the longstanding enterprises about the app and called the fears of Chinese government access to TikTok’s stoner data “ academic . ”

“ I suppose a lot of pitfalls that are refocused out are academic and theoretical pitfalls, ” Bite said. “ I haven't seen any substantiation. I'm eagerly awaiting conversations where we can talk about substantiation and also we can address the enterprises that are being raised. ”