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The CEO of TikTok Shou Zi Chew appeared in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he was repeatedly asked whether he was Chinese or had links to the Chinese Communist party by Republican Senator Tom Cotton.
Chew, who is Singaporean, was appearing at the committee hearing about online child sexual exploitation on Wednesday, 31 March, which also saw Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testify along with X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Discord CEO Jason Citron.
TikTok is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd. During the hearing, Chew faced a series of shocking questions about his own nationality and ties to the Chinese government – which Chew continued to knock back, stating repeatedly that he is a Singaporean national.
Cotton demanded if Chew had been a member of or affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party. He also asked Chew if he had any citizenship other than Singaporean, even though Singapore doesn’t allow dual citizenship.
Chew previously appeared at a Commerce Committee hearing in March about data privacy.
Speaking on Wednesday, Chew said: “We make careful product design choices to help make our app inhospitable to those seeking to harm teens.”
He also added that TikTok’s community guidelines do not allow anything that puts “teenagers at risk of exploitation or other harm – and we vigorously enforce them”.
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