TikTok owner spent record amount lobbying in 2022 as it faces national security concerns, ban threats
FOX NewsMAR 9 2023
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will appear before the US Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23. The hearing comes amid concerns among US officials that TikTok shares American users’ data with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The committee’s chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) confirmed the testimony on Monday as the House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to vote on a bill that would ban TikTok in the US.
McMorris Rodgers said in a statement that “ByteDance-owned TikTok has knowingly allowed the ability for the Chinese Communist Party to access American user data.” She added that Americans deserve to know TikTok’s impact on their privacy.
TikTok is a dangerous platform that is an immense threat to both US national security and everyday privacy. The incredibly popular app is directly tied to the PRC and gives a foreign adversary alarming access to Americans' personal data. Banning TikTok is the only way to prevent China from potentially accessing and abusing Americans' data.
Efforts to ban TikTok are unserious performances that are divorced from reality or any recognition of how to protect US consumers. TikTok is one of a handful of extremely large apps that generate an endless supply of US user data, yet TikTok is the only dangerous one because it was created in China. Instead of a publicity stunt, lawmakers should focus on meaningful ways to prevent and regulate the overcollection of data by big tech companies.