In his opening remarks, Mr Chew distanced himself and the company from the Chinese government by telling Congress lawmakers he was born in Singapore and attended college in Britain and the US, where he met his wife.
He added that TikTok’s headquarters are in Los Angeles.
In defending the social media platform, Mr Chew pointed out TikTok’s benefits to children and young people.
He said educational videos, such as those on mathematics and science, have been watched more than 116 billion times on the platform.
On the issue of collecting data, Mr Chew said TikTok does not collect more data than other tech companies, saying the app neither collects precise GPS location information nor health data.
Tiktok is committed to being very transparent, he added.
“We do not promote or remove content at the request of the Chinese government”, he said, adding that “it is our commitment to this committee and all our users that we will keep (TikTok) free from any manipulation by any government.”
But the top Democrat on the panel, Representative Frank Pallone, argued with that statement.
He said: “My problem here is, you’re trying to give the impression that you’re going to move away from Beijing and the Communist Party ... but the commitments that we would seek to achieve those goals are not being made today.”
“You’re gonna continue to gather data, you’re gonna continue to sell data ... and continue to be under the aegis of the Communist Party,” Mr Pallone added.
Mr Chew’s testimony before Congress will also cap a week of actions by the Chinese company aimed at convincing Americans and their lawmakers that the app creates economic value and supports free speech.
TikTok has more than 150 million Americans users.
It has faced sharp accusations that its US user data would be shared with the Chinese government and that it fails to adequately protect children from harm.
TikTok has said it has spent more than US$1.5 billion (S$2 billion) on what it calls rigorous data security efforts under the name Project Texas.
TikTok would remain owned by ByteDance, but would put all of the data generated by American users on domestic servers operated and run by Oracle, the software giant in Austin, Texas.
Only Oracle and US-based TikTok employees would have access to the accounts and data of American users, TikTok said.
It also says it rigorously screens content that could harm children.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiaWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnN0cmFpdHN0aW1lcy5jb20vd29ybGQvdW5pdGVkLXN0YXRlcy90aWt0b2stY2VvLXRvLWZhY2UtdG91Z2gtcXVlc3Rpb25zLWFtaWQtY2FsbHMtZm9yLXVzLWJhbtIBAA?oc=5
2023-03-23 13:27:49Z
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