The growing effort to crack down on TikTok began after the company’s CEO, Su Zichu, attended a five-hour hearing before a US House of Representatives committee on Thursday, where lawmakers from both parties questioned him about national security and other concerns about the app. Watchman.
After the hearing, Ocasio-Cortez spoke out for the first time on TikTok against a possible ban — asserting that such a move would be unprecedented. Meanwhile, the app has been filled with thousands of videos mocking moments from the test. Young users have criticized politicians for not understanding TikTok technology.
This is the most thriving thing I’ve ever seen
– reads one of the comments on a video in which a congressman accuses TikTok of tracking pupil dilation.
The public outcry highlights the tension between the app’s growing popularity and lawmakers’ efforts to ban it. TikTok currently has more than 150 million users in the United States.
Despite the protests, it appears that the authorities continue to clamp down on the platform. On Sunday, US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he would introduce legislation over national security concerns about TikTok, as the Chinese government allegedly gained access to the app’s user data.
A growing number of people in the US are calling for a ban on TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance, and the passage of a bipartisan bill giving the Joe Biden administration the power to block it. Devices owned by the US government have recently been blocked from installing the app.
The House of Representatives passes legislation to protect Americans from the Chinese Communist Party’s technological tentacles
McCarthy said on Twitter.
The CEO failed to impress lawmakers
In Thursday’s hearing, the TikTok CEO was asked if the app had spied on Americans at Beijing’s request. The leader denied the allegations. During the session, a group of more than 30 content creators protested outside the Capitol.
Republican Congressman Neil Dunn pointed to the company’s December announcement that some ByteDance employees in China, who are no longer with the company, had accidentally accessed the user data of two journalists. The representative repeated his question about whether ByteDance was spying.
I don’t think spying is the right word
Zhou said.
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tweeted Sunday:
It’s deeply disturbing that the CEO of TikTok can’t honestly admit to something we already know is true – that China has access to TikTok user data.
The company says it has spent more than $1.5 billion on data security improvements as part of a proposed project called Project Texas, which aims to ease lawmakers’ concerns by moving all US user data to centers outside of China through a partnership with Texas-based Oracle. through.
But rather than reassuring lawmakers, Chu’s appearance before Congress on Thursday “actually increased the likelihood that Congress will take action,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, the Republican chairman of the CPC House Select Committee.
