The chair of a House of Representatives committee wants TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to answer questions about the popular Chinese-owned video app’s efforts to protect children from inappropriate content and potential exploitation next week.
Chew will appear before Congress for the first time on March 23 when he testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Republican Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers stated on Thursday that lawmakers “need to know what actions the company is taking to keep our children safe from online and offline harms.”
In a December letter to TikTok, McMorris Rodgers, and other Republicans stated that “many children are exposed to non-stop offerings of inappropriate content that TikTok’s algorithm force-feeds to them.” They also expressed concern that adult TikTok users can offer monetary rewards to “persuade children to perform sexually suggestive acts” during live-streamed events on TikTok.
TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance, stated that the Biden administration threatened to ban the app in the US if its Chinese owners did not sell their stakes in the company.
“Americans deserve to know the extent to which ByteDance-owned TikTok’s relationship with China jeopardizes their privacy and manipulates their data,” she added. The US government has expressed concern that TikTok user data could be shared with the Chinese government.
TikTok, which did not immediately respond, announced earlier this month that it is working on a tool that will allow parents to prevent their teens from viewing content on the short-form video app that contains certain words or hashtags.
TikTok has announced new features to assist users in limiting the amount of time they spend on the app. Accounts belonging to users under the age of 18 will be automatically limited to one hour per day, and teens will be required to enter a passcode to continue using the app.
TikTok and the Biden administration have been negotiating data security requirements for more than two years. TikTok claims to have spent more than $1.5 billion on rigorous data security efforts and denies any allegations of spying.
The demand for divestiture by the Biden administration was the most dramatic in a series of recent actions by US officials and legislators.
