House Committee on Energy and Commerce as a possible ban of TikTok is gaining momentum in Washington. lawmakers?Ĭhew is facing intense questioning before the U.S. 'He gained a lot of respect just by taking that high risk, in-the-hot seat role at TikTok,' Ives said, adding that the company likely thought he was the right person to ease tensions with U.S. He was considered a good fit for TikTok because of his background in investment banking and his time at Facebook and DST Global, said Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities. users, she said, 'so he doesn't have the same reputation as someone we know, and (we) don't have sense of who he is.'īut Chew is well-respected within the U.S. Most Americans likely first heard of Chew when he released a video this week speaking directly to TikTok's U.S. the ability for China to have undue influence is a much greater challenge and a much more immediate threat than any kind of actual, armed conflict.'Chew has been in the background on public discourse until now, so he doesn't have the same reputation we would associate with the Silicon Valley set, especially Zuckerberg,' she said. 'If your country uses Huawei, if your kids are on TikTok. 'This is not something you would normally hear me say, but Donald Trump was right on TikTok years ago,' Warner told Australia's Sydney Morning Herald. In late October, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) said that the app posed privacy and security concerns to Americans - and went a step further by praising Trump's approach. The idea of a TikTok ban appears to be gaining traction once again. national security concerns.' Some lawmakers are pushing for a ban 'While we can't comment on the specifics of those confidential discussions, we are confident that we are on a path to fully satisfy all reasonable U.S. 'As Director Wray specified in his remarks, the FBI's input is being considered as part of our ongoing negotiations with the U.S. World 4 takeaways from President Biden's 'very blunt' meeting with China's Xi JinpingĪ TikTok spokesperson confirmed that in a statement emailed to NPR on Wednesday, adding that the proposed agreement goes beyond data security to address issues like governance, content moderation and algorithmic transparency.

Various government officials have issued similar warnings over the years, and two presidential administrations have tried to address these security concerns in different ways. In July, Wray said China was the 'biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security' and accused Beijing of having interfered in recent elections. The FBI has in the last few years been shifting its focus to China. 'And so that's plenty of reason by itself to be extremely concerned,' he added. Wray said at the hearing that Chinese law essentially requires companies to 'do whatever the government wants them to in terms of sharing information or serving as a tool of the Chinese government.' Separately, Forbes reported in October that ByteDance planned to use TikTok 'to monitor the personal location of some specific American citizens,' which the company denied. Citing leaked meeting audio, Buzzfeed News reported in June that China-based ByteDance employees have repeatedly accessed non-public data (like phone numbers and birthdays) of U.S.

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