TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew bear witness(Opens in a new window) at a congressional hearing on March 23.
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee announced the committee’s appearance on Monday via Press release(Opens in a new window).
TikTok’s ties to its China-based parent company, Bytedance, have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. The US federal government recently banned(Opens in a new window) the mobile viral video app from government issued devices.
While many congressional hearings on Big Tech have focused on more than one company or platform in the industry, this one will be hyper-focused on TikTok. The hearing will focus on “TikTok’s consumer data privacy and security practices, the platforms’ impact on children, and their relationship with the Chinese Communist Party,” the statement said.
The Trump administration attempted to outright ban the TikTok app in the United States in 2020, but was blocked to do so at the time. To help ease lawmakers’ concerns about the safety of its US users, TikTok in partnership(Opens in a new window) with Oracle to route US traffic through the company’s US-based servers.
Congressional Republicans have continued to target TikTok over its ties to China-based Bytedance. With Republicans now in control of the House, one of their top priorities seems to be tackling the video platform which is incredibly popular with young people in the United States.
This won’t be TikTok’s first-ever appearance before Congress as the company has shipped representatives to testify at previous hearings. However, this marks the first appearance of its CEO.
