TikTok CEO Shou Chew faces the battle of his life on Thursday when he’ll attempt to persuade a congressional committee that the massively in style app poses no menace to nationwide safety.
If he fails, TikTok may face a U.S.-wide ban, stopping new downloads and stopping U.S-based customers from receiving updates to maintain the app functioning correctly.
TikTok has come underneath rising scrutiny since 2020 when then-president Donald Trump threatened to ban it nationwide, and since then the app has been banned from federal units.
So, why is TikTok deemed such an issue by some lawmakers? Properly, they imagine that because it’s owned by a Chinese language agency, ByteDance, the large quantity of information that it has on Americans may very well be utilized by the Chinese language Communist Celebration to study extra in regards to the nation’s habits, predilections, and extra. Some worry Beijing may additionally tweak TikTok’s algorithm to ship misinformation to customers.
Shou Chew will try to defend the app on Thursday, providing reassurances about the way it handles TikTok person knowledge and insisting that it’s secure within the firm’s palms.
On Tuesday, Chew launched a video the place he revealed for the primary time that 150 million folks within the U.S. use TikTok, amongst them 5 million companies — feedback designed to point out simply how woven the app is into the material of American life.
“Some politicians have began speaking about banning TikTok,” Chou stated within the video, including: “This might take TikTok away from all 150 million of you.”
The outcomes of a current ballot carried out by the Washington Publish urged that extra Individuals again a TikTok ban than oppose one (41% versus 25%), with most respondents voicing issues in regards to the app’s hyperlink to China.
Tips on how to watch Shou Chew defend TikTok
Chou must be on the prime of his recreation to persuade the congressional committee that TikTok poses no drawback for the U.S.. You may watch his protection of the app by way of the participant embedded on the prime of this web page or by heading to C-Span’s YouTube channel, which is able to carry the identical feed.
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