TikTok Hearing Before House Energy and Commerce Committee: Lawmakers Appear Unconvinced by TikTok Chief's Testimony (Published 2023)

Lawmakers lambasted TikTok's chief executive about the platform's ties to China in a roughly five-hour hearing on Thursday, punctuating how the viral video app has become a central battleground as the United States and China tussle for political, technological and economic primacy.

Shou Chew, the chief executive of TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese internet giant ByteDance, was barraged with questions about the app's relationship to its parent company and China's potential influence over the platform. Republican and Democratic lawmakers repeatedly asked Mr. Chew if TikTok was spying on Americans on behalf of the Chinese government, cut him off midsentence and angrily demanded "yes" or "no" answers from him.

The hearing, a rare display of bipartisan unity that was harsher in tone than previous congressional hearings featuring American executives of social media companies, was complicated by Chinese authorities weighing in. Hours before Mr. Chew testified, China's commerce ministry said it opposed a sale of TikTok, in a public rebuke of the Biden administration, which has demanded the divestiture and threatened a possible U.S. ban of the app.

That left Mr. Chew, 40, in a difficult position as he struggled to cast TikTok as an independent company that wasn't influenced by China. "ByteDance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government," he said at one point, a response that visibly frustrated lawmakers. "It is a private company."

1. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers: "Your platform should be banned."

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2. Shou Chew, the TikTok chief executive, addressing protections for teenagers.

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3. Michelle Nasca, right, who filed a lawsuit against TikTok and ByteDance Inc., for the death of her son.

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4. Rep. John Sarbanes pushing back on TikTok's protections for teenagers.

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5. Rep. Buddy Carter questioning Mr. Chew.

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6. Rep. Kat Cammack playing a TikTok video allegedly threatening the committee chair.

7. The threatening video is removed from TikTok during a break in the hearing.

8. Mr. Chew declining to say how much of TikTok's revenues goes to Beijing.

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9. Mr. Chew, on TikTok moving past user data to American servers.

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10. Members of House Committee on Energy and Commerce listening to Mr. Chew's comments.

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11. Mr. Chew responding to a question about China's treatment of Uyghurs.

The hearing and China's statement cemented how TikTok has become a focal point of geopolitical tensions between the United States and China. President Biden and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, are both campaigning to bolster their own technology sectors and have disrupted trade to each other's countries as suspicions between Washington and Beijing have mounted.

With the United States and China at odds over a TikTok sale, there are basically two paths for the app in the United States. The Biden administration could ban the app, which may run into a difficult court challenge, or it could revisit stalled negotiations for a technical fix to data security concerns.

But even as the White House considers those options, the striking bipartisan unity at Thursday's hearing was a boon for President Biden as he takes a hard line against China. Nearly every policy he has pursued has been forcefully rejected by Republicans, except for his tough position against China on trade, technology dominance, the Ukraine war and other matters.

"The future of TikTok in the U.S. is definitely dimmer and more uncertain today than it was yesterday," said Lindsay Gorman, head of technology and geopolitics at the German Marshall Fund and a former tech adviser for the Biden administration. "It's not just one side of the aisle clamoring for TikTok to address these national security concerns, but this is now coming from all sides."

To continue operating in the United States without changing its Chinese ownership, TikTok had proposed ways to protect American users by walling off their data, among other steps. But no security agreement had been reached and U.S. intelligence officials had warned that the app might be an arm of the Chinese government that spies on Americans and spreads propaganda.

The stakes heightened in recent weeks, with the Biden administration pushing for TikTok to be sold off from its Chinese owners or face a possible ban on American soil. But China's comments on Thursday against a sale narrows what the White House can potentially do to contain the app without escalating tensions, leading to acrimonious exchanges at the hearing with Mr. Chew.

It is rare for chief executives of foreign-owned companies to testify in Congress, with one of the last times being when Toyota's president appeared in 2010 to discuss the recalls of millions of cars.

Over the past few years, Republican and Democratic lawmakers have increasingly coalesced around the growing animus against Chinese businesses in the United States, with government bans on exports to Chinese telecommunications companies and several bills that aim to limit TikTok and other technologies tied to hostile foreign governments.

At the hearing, more than 50 lawmakers expressed deep skepticism of Mr. Chew's defense. They portrayed TikTok as a danger to national security, accusing it of invading people's privacy, harming the mental health of teenagers and leading to the deaths of some young people. August Pfluger, a Republican lawmaker from Texas, told Mr. Chew that the chief executive had inspired political unity that hadn't been seen in three or four years.

"We do not trust TikTok will ever embrace American values," said Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican of Washington and the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which held the hearing. "TikTok has repeatedly chosen the path for more control, more surveillance and more manipulation. Your platform should be banned."

In a statement, a TikTok spokeswoman said the hearing "was dominated by political grandstanding."

Mr. Chew tried distancing TikTok from China, stressing that he was born in Singapore and that he lives there with his wife, who was born in Virginia, and two children. He emphasized early on that he attended business school in the United States.

But he acknowledged that he reports directly to ByteDance's chief executive, Liang Rubo, and that some TikTok employees participate in ByteDance's incentive plans for stock options.

Mr. Chew argued that banning TikTok would be a strike against free expression. The app serves many small businesses and creators and has 150 million U.S. users and 7,000 employees in the country.

He also repeatedly pointed to efforts to protect the data of Americans. The company came up with a plan, Project Texas, to store the data of American users on domestic servers run by the Texas-based software giant, Oracle. He insisted that the data security program, which the Biden administration has rejected, would be the best way to protect consumers.

"The bottom line is this: American data is stored on American soil by an American company overseen by American personnel," Mr. Chew said.

Lawmakers remained skeptical. Several brought up China's declaration that it would oppose TikTok's sale, saying it was evidence of the country's influence over the company. They cited reports of ByteDance's surveillance of American journalists as proof of the company's abuse of privacy and user security. In December, ByteDance said that its China-based employees had retrieved the sensitive data of U.S. TikTok users, including reporters, to try to find who was leaking internal information to journalists.

"I'm not convinced that the benefits outweigh the risks that it poses to Americans in its present form," Frank Pallone, the ranking Democrat of New Jersey, said of TikTok. "The combination of TikTok's Beijing communist-based China ownership and its popularity exacerbates its danger to our country and to our privacy."

Concerns over TikTok increased during the Trump administration. In 2020, President Donald J. Trump tried, unsuccessfully, to ban TikTok from Apple's and Google's app stores unless it was sold to an American buyer. A deal to sell stakes in the app to Oracle and Walmart never came together.

After the Biden administration came into office, it initially focused on negotiating the security deal that would allow TikTok to keep operating in the United States. That changed in recent weeks with the White House's demand that TikTok's Chinese owners sell the app. The administration also backed a new bill, sponsored by Senators Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, and John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, that would give it more power to ban TikTok.

Mr. Chew, who was appointed TikTok's chief executive in May 2021, has in recent months embarked on a charm offensive in Washington, meeting with lawmakers, think tank leaders and journalists. This week, he tried garnering support with a video on TikTok's official account, warning users that politicians "could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you."

TikTok has support from free speech proponents, who warned against banning the app.

"Banning or restricting access to social media is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes, and we should be very wary about giving the U.S. government that kind of power," Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.

Lawmakers also raised concerns about TikTok and young Americans in the hearing. The app is used by 67 percent of U.S. teenagers, according to the Pew Research Center. TikTok has faced criticism that it's too addictive and that its algorithm can bombard teens with videos that put them in dangerous and even lethal situations.

"TikTok could be designed to minimize the harm to kids, but a decision was made to aggressively addict kids in the name of profits," Representative Kathy Castor, Democrat of Florida, said during the hearing.

Mr. Chew said TikTok had worked to limit the repetition of videos about topics like extreme exercise and that the app's guidelines did not allow content promoting self-harm or eating disorders. He also pointed to new 60-minute screen time limits, which parents can control, for users 12 and under, and prompts that now appear after 60 minutes for 13- to 17-year-olds.

Lawmakers weren't assuaged. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, Democrat of Delaware, said Mr. Chew's testimony solidified concerns over the company's ties to China, data privacy violations and how the app treats children.

"I think that really summarizes why you see so much bipartisan consensus and concerns about your company," she said. "And I imagine that it's not going away anytime soon."

Chang Che contributed reporting.

March 23, 2023, 3:29 p.m. ET

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For several hours, TikTok's chief executive, Shou Chew, tried to downplay the company's links to its Chinese owner, ByteDance. He told lawmakers about the company's plan to store U.S. users' data on America soil, out of reach of the Chinese government, and said that the app didn't censor posts at Beijing's behest. He highlighted the company's tools that were meant to limit teenagers' time on the app.

But his lengthy testimony has not appeared to calm lawmakers fears.

"When we spoke a couple of weeks ago, you indicated interest in taking steps to earn our trust," said Representative Lori Trahan of Massachusetts, a Democrat. "And, to me, it hasn't happened today so far."

It was a bruising appearance for Mr. Chew. Lawmakers from both parties repeatedly confronted him with concerns about videos featured on the app. One video, highlighted by Representative Kat Cammack of Florida, a Republican, showed a firing gun and included a reference to the congressional hearing and the committee's chair, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican. The post was taken down not long after the exchange.

Multiple lawmakers said they felt they had seen many tech executives testify before congressional committees, but they have seen few changes as a result.

"With all due respect, the 'No company can be perfect' line has been used way too much today," said Representative Angie Craig, Democrat of Minnesota. "Clearly, in the three-plus hours you've been before us today, what you're saying about Project Texas just doesn't pass the smell test."

Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, Democrat of Delaware, said that lawmakers "came here hoping to hear some actions that would alleviate some of our concerns and our fears." She said she was concerned that the company collected data from young people, and that their data could still be accessible to individuals in China.

"I think that really summarizes why you see so much bipartisan consensus and concerns about your company," she added. "And I imagine that it's not going away anytime soon."

March 23, 2023, 3:28 p.m. ET

Ryan Mac

It's hard to know, but I wonder how much better this would have gone for TikTok if the company had put Shou Chew in the public eye earlier. Many people are only learning about him for the first time through this hearing. While he's met with lawmakers privately, he did virtually no media interviews in the U.S. until the end of 2022, when scrutiny on the company had reached fever pitch.

March 23, 2023, 3:24 p.m. ET

David McCabe

Reporting from Capitol Hill

More than five hours after it started, the hearing has ended. Chew is leaving the room in a throng of photographers.

March 23, 2023, 2:54 p.m. ET

Sapna Maheshwari

August Pfluger, a Republican lawmaker from Texas, points out that Mr. Chew achieved something that hasn't happened in Congress for three or four years: "You have unified Republicans and Democrats and if only for a day, we're actually unified because we have serious concerns."

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March 23, 2023, 2:48 p.m. ET

Ana Swanson

Reporting from Washington

This hearing feels to me like a potential turning point in terms of the scrutiny that Chinese companies receive in the United States. We've been hearing for years about a decoupling between the United States and China, but it's really just begun.

March 23, 2023, 2:49 p.m. ET

Ana Swanson

Reporting from Washington

Quite a few well-known brands in the U.S. are Chinese owned: Volvo, the game developer Riot Games, GE Appliances, the pork producer Smithfield Foods. China also produces the majority of global goods like car batteries, solar panels, toys, some key medicines and much of our fast fashion.

March 23, 2023, 2:51 p.m. ET

Ana Swanson

Reporting from Washington

Given the size and profitability of the American and Chinese markets, most global companies have tried to keep operating in both. But as this hearing shows, companies are increasingly having to choose a side or risk a lot of negative publicity. Naming and shaming companies with ties to China is also going to be a big focus for the new Select Committee on China that has been set up in the House.

March 23, 2023, 2:48 p.m. ET

David McCabe

Reporting from Capitol Hill

The energy in the room is flagging, with lawmakers from both parties having hammered Chew for hours on topics from content moderation to the possibility of nefarious use by the Chinese government. "This hasn't been a fun day. I know that," Russ Fulcher, an Idaho Republican, told Chew as he recapped many of the issues lawmakers touched on. "It hasn't been a fun day for us either."

March 23, 2023, 2:22 p.m. ET

Ryan Mac

It took about four hours, but we did get a question that mentioned ByteDance's founder, Zhang Yiming, though only in passing. The lack of focused questioning around the power structures at ByteDance shows how little is known about the leaders of the company and how they interact with TikTok. Going through this hearing without questions about Zhang, who technically renounced his chairman and chief executive titles in 2021, is like having a hearing about Amazon and not asking about Jeff Bezos.

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March 23, 2023, 2:18 p.m. ET

David McCabe

Reporting from Capitol Hill

The hearing has started again.

March 23, 2023, 2:13 p.m. ET

David McCabe

Reporting from Capitol Hill

So far, this has certainly been a difficult outing for TikTok and the fallout may be louder calls for a ban or forced sale of the app. But I keep coming back to three crucial and unanswered questions: Can Congress actually manage to ban the app or empower the White House to do so? Will any actions lawmakers or the president take survive a court challenge? And, finally, how does China's opposition to any sale translate into action?

March 23, 2023, 2:04 p.m. ET

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Ahead of the congressional hearing Thursday on TikTok, the app brought creators to Capitol Hill in Washington to talk up the platform's benefits. Shou Chew, TikTok's chief executive, told members of Congress about the company's plan to cordon data inside the United States and highlighted his own ties to the country. And the app's ads have been blanketed across the city's transportation hubs used by lawmakers and congressional staffers.

It was all part of TikTok's charm offensive in the face of Congress' mounting scrutiny and stalled negotiations with the Biden administration.

TikTok has ramped up its activity in Washington as it tries to keep operating in the United States, which, with 150 million users, is one of its largest markets. But lawmakers and administration officials are worried that the app's Chinese owner, ByteDance, could be compelled to hand U.S. user data to the Chinese government or turn the app into a conduit for Beijing's political propaganda.

TikTok has been negotiating with the Biden administration over a deal that would resolve the concerns, but government officials have recently made it clear they would prefer TikTok's Chinese owners just sell the app entirely or face a possible ban.

The stalled negotiations have pushed TikTok to change tactics. The video app has in recent months briefed reporters and influential scholars at think tanks about its offer to store the data of U.S. users on domestic servers run by the cloud computing company Oracle, among other proposals. TikTok had previously declined to comment on the specifics of its negotiations with the government, but changed its posture after those discussions sputtered.

The app is also drawing on an increasingly sophisticated lobbying apparatus. ByteDance spent more than $5 million on lobbying Washington in 2022 and 2021, up from $2.6 million in 2020, according to OpenSecrets, a site that tracks corporate influence. The company has hired ‌former aides to major members of Congress, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, and Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn of South Carolina.

Mr. Chew has met with numerous lawmakers ahead of the hearing to discuss TikTok's data security proposal and to underscore his personal connections to the United States, including that his wife attended high school in the Washington area, people with knowledge of the conversations said.

Across Washington, TikTok has ramped up ads for its privacy and safety tools in places where policymakers are likely to see them. Travelers walking to their gates at Ronald Reagan National Airport last week passed ads from TikTok reading "Safety. Your priority. Our commitment." TikTok also ran ads in Politico's Playbook newsletter this month that linked readers to information about its tools for families.

On Tuesday, Mr. Chew took the fight directly to the app's users. He posted a TikTok video from Washington, with the Capitol in the background, expressing concerns that an outright ban of the app could "take TikTok away from all 150 million of you."

But TikTok's critics are lobbying Congress ahead of the hearing too. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative group, announced a push by what it called "moms against TikTok" this week and said that the app "indoctrinates American youth by promoting harmful, addictive content."

March 23, 2023, 2:00 p.m. ET

David McCabe

Reporting from Capitol Hill

The committee is taking another break so lawmakers can go vote. It's not clear how long it'll be.

March 23, 2023, 1:55 p.m. ET

Ana Swanson

Reporting from Washington

Representative John Joyce of Pennsylvania cited New York Times reporting from 2021 that the web browser used within the TikTok app can track every keystroke made by its users, showing that TikTok had the functionality to track users if it wanted to.

March 23, 2023, 1:55 p.m. ET

Ryan Mac

This hearing is basically a dream scenario for Mark Zuckerberg. Back in October 2019, during a period of intense scrutiny on his company, the Facebook founder delivered a speech at Georgetown University advocating that lawmakers and regulators focus on competitive threats from China, and specifically TikTok. Less than four years later, a bipartisan committee is hammering his main social media competitor.

March 23, 2023, 1:37 p.m. ET

David McCabe

Reporting from Capitol Hill

Almost all of these questions have been tough, but it is easier for Shou Chew to respond to the concerns about child safety, where the company has spent years developing tools and policies to deal with scrutiny. It has been clear for several hours that lawmakers don't like his strategy when it comes to questions about China: downplaying ByteDance's role and touting the Project Texas proposal.

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March 23, 2023, 1:20 p.m. ET

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U.S. lawmakers and regulators are increasingly growing agitated over TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese internet company ByteDance, and the potential threat that the app poses to national security and to the mental health of young people. Designed to address those concerns, three pieces of legislation are making their way through Congress.

Here are the bills and where they stand:

• The RESTRICT Act: This bill, which does not mention TikTok by name, would give the Commerce Department the power to vet and, if needed, ban any app or service that could endanger the security of the United States. It is sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers including Senators Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, and John Thune, Republican of South Dakota. It is the only TikTok legislation that has been endorsed by the White House. But it has not yet been considered at the congressional committee level, which is the first step toward a bill becoming a law.

• The DATA Act: This bill would also give the Biden administration more power to ban the app and, unlike the RESTRICT Act, mentions TikTok specifically. It has been approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which is led by the bill's sponsor, Representative Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas.

• The ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act: This bill would effectively order President Biden to ban TikTok using his emergency economic powers. Backed by lawmakers including Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, and Representative Mike Gallagher, Republican of Wisconsin, it has yet to receive a vote from a congressional committee.

Other legislation that would impose restrictions on TikTok was introduced in the last Congress and could be introduced again this year.

Any TikTok ban could face legal challenges from the app or its allies. The American Civil Liberties Union has said it believes that a ban could raise issues under the First Amendment. And a group of TikTok creators successfully challenged former President Donald J. Trump's attempt to ban the app in 2020.

March 23, 2023, 1:20 p.m. ET

Ryan Mac

It's fascinating that there has been no direct mention of the ByteDance cofounder Zhang Yiming, the company's former chief executive who has long been seen as its innovative force. While he renounced his titles in 2021 during China's crackdown on its tech sector, he has still been involved in decision-making at ByteDance and TikTok.

March 23, 2023, 1:18 p.m. ET

Ana Swanson

Reporting from Washington

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Delaware Democrat, had a pretty good summary just now of some of the takeaways from this hearing that might prove to be most memorable for the public. "I learned that you have personalized data, advertising for kids as young as 13. And we've heard until Project Texas is supposedly stood up, engineers in China still have access to personal data," she said.

March 23, 2023, 1:18 p.m. ET

David McCabe

Reporting from Capitol Hill

She also suggested that Chew had not calmed lawmaker fears about TikTok. After laying out her worries about kids' data, Blunt Rochester added, "I think that really summarizes why you see so much bipartisan consensus and concerns about your company. And I imagine that it's not going away anytime soon."

March 23, 2023, 1:12 p.m. ET

Ana Swanson

Reporting from Washington

Now Chew has been asked the same question that was put to his deputy by CNN in that widely circulated video: Do you agree that the Chinese government has persecuted the Uyghur population? He was asked directly three times and dodged each time.

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00:00:00.000 —> 00:00:04.019 "Do you agree that the Chinese government has persecuted 00:00:04.019 —> 00:00:05.970 the Uyghur population?" 00:00:05.970 —> 00:00:09.030 "Well, it's deeply concerning to hear about all the counts 00:00:09.030 —> 00:00:10.710 of human rights abuse. 00:00:10.710 —> 00:00:12.690 My role here is to explain —" 00:00:12.690 —> 00:00:14.070 "I think you're being pretty evasive. 00:00:14.070 —> 00:00:16.180 It's a pretty easy question. 00:00:16.180 —> 00:00:19.590 Do you agree that the Chinese government has persecuted 00:00:19.590 —> 00:00:21.420 the Uyghur population?" 00:00:21.420 —> 00:00:23.572 Congresswoman, I'm here to describe TikTok, 00:00:23.572 —> 00:00:25.530 and what we do as a platform and as a platform, 00:00:25.530 —> 00:00:27.420 we allow our users to freely express —" 00:00:27.420 —> 00:00:29.160 "All right, earlier today —" 00:00:29.160 —> 00:00:30.570 "— as well as any other issues that matters to them." 00:00:30.570 —> 00:00:33.260 "Well, you didn't answer the question."

March 23, 2023, 12:50 p.m. ET

TikTok was once best known for viral dance videos and pop songs. But in recent years, the app — which is owned by China's ByteDance — has also built itself into a digital advertising juggernaut, selling access to its growing internet foothold to brands and developing products that make it easier to advertise on the platform.

Consider a recent Tiffany & Company ad campaign. On Instagram, a sleek black-and-white video featuring the pop superstar Beyoncé dripping in gems and surrounded by nightclub revelers drew 1.6 million views. On TikTok, an ad showed the social media personality Kate Bartlett trying on trinkets at a Tiffany store had been watched more than 5.2 million times.

Although its ads business remains small compared with Google and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, TikTok is growing even as digital advertising is slumping in a global economic slowdown. The slowdown has hurt Snap, Google and Meta. And TikTok, though not immune, appears to be compounding its rivals' woes by stealing business from them.

Many advertisers have concerns about TikTok and its Chinese owners, its struggles with content quality and its problems with bot traffic. But companies keep flocking to the app, which says it has more than one billion users, because it appears to have reach and cultural cachet, particularly among young adults.

TikTok's users spend an average of 96 minutes a day on the app — nearly five times what they spend on Snapchat, triple their time on Twitter and almost twice as much as their time on Facebook and Instagram, according to the data analytics company Sensor Tower.

"TikTok is eating the world. The only thing that matters in the world of entertainment is time spent," said Rich Greenfield, a technology analyst at LightShed Partners. "If you have less time spent because TikTok is taking share, that's negative for your advertising business."

March 23, 2023, 12:46 p.m. ET

Sapna Maheshwari

Rep. Gary Palmer, an Alabama Republican, brought up a widely viewed CNN clip from December, when Michael Beckerman, TikTok's head of public policy for the Americas, struggled to answer questions about China's treatment of Uyghurs, a Muslim minority, in China's Xinjiang region. Lawmakers have seized on the clip as an example of how TikTok employees ultimately answer to Beijing.

March 23, 2023, 12:47 p.m. ET

Ana Swanson

Reporting from Washington

Few global companies are eager to speak out on the Xinjiang issue. Statements from companies like Intel and H&M criticizing Beijing's policies there have provoked backlashes and boycotts within China. These days, most companies operating in both China and the U.S. simply try to dodge the question.

March 23, 2023, 12:36 p.m. ET

Sapna Maheshwari

Anupam Chander, a professor of law and technology at Georgetown University who is following the hearing, tells me he doesn't think the reception Shou Chew is getting could be any chillier. "The hearing pairs congressional fury against Big Tech with congressional fury against China, so it's at maximum fury, and Shou Chew is the target."

March 23, 2023, 12:32 p.m. ET

Sapna Maheshwari

Lawmakers have been visibly frustrated at times with Chew's answers. After Tony Cárdenas, a California Democrat, asked him several times if ByteDance is a Chinese company, Chew said that ByteDance was created by a Chinese founder, that it's a global company and mentioned that he has had discussions about this type of question — but didn't actually say yes.

March 23, 2023, 12:28 p.m. ET

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At the core of Thursday's congressional hearing on TikTok is one main question: What is the relationship between the popular short-form video app and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance?

The answer could be key to addressing lawmakers' questions about TikTok and whether ByteDance could give the app's data on American users to the Chinese authorities. Those concerns have given rise to calls to ban TikTok in the United States and to have ByteDance sell the app to American owners.

ByteDance was founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming, a software engineer and an early believer in the power of artificial intelligence to revolutionize news and video. His recommendation algorithm turned into the backbone of ByteDance's first two wildly successful products: Toutiao, a popular news aggregator app, and Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

ByteDance has since expanded, creating popular apps across industries including gaming, education and productivity software. Today, the Beijing-headquartered tech conglomerate is among the world's most valuable private companies, with more than 100,000 employees, according to PitchBook, which tracks privately held start-ups.

ByteDance owns TikTok through an offshore entity in the Cayman Islands, according to corporate records. The company has said that most of that offshore entity's shares are owned by global investors, including Sequoia China and General Atlantic, and that TikTok is "not owned or controlled by any government or state entity."

In 2021, after President Xi Jinping of China cracked down on technology companies, the Chinese government took a board seat and a 1 percent stake in a key ByteDance subsidiary, according to Qichacha, a Chinese corporate records platform. As part of the state-induced ownership reshuffle, Mr. Zhang relinquished his title as ByteDance chief executive to his co-founder and former college roommate Liang Rubo. As of late last year, Mr. Zhang remained influential at ByteDance, current and former employees have said.

To separate TikTok from Chinese influence, former President Donald J. Trump pushed for ByteDance to sell the app to American companies in 2020, though no deal ultimately took place. More recently, the Biden administration has urged TikTok's Chinese ownership to sell the app or face a possible ban in the United States.

ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a letter to U.S. lawmakers in June, TikTok insisted it retained an arm's-length relationship with its parent. ByteDance could make hiring decisions on behalf of the video app, and the two entities shared some underlying technologies, the company said, but ultimately, "TikTok is led by its own global C.E.O., Shou Zi Chew."

March 23, 2023, 12:22 p.m. ET

Ana Swanson

Reporting from Washington

Testimony resumed with an interesting demonstration of just how quickly TikTok can act to remove certain content: Chew said he was informed during the break that posts threatening the chair of the House committee, which were highlighted earlier in the hearing, had been taken down.

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transcript

transcript

00:00:00.000 —> 00:00:02.940 "What I'd like the witness to acknowledge 00:00:02.940 —> 00:00:07.740 is that it appears that Ms. Cammack, my colleague, 00:00:07.740 —> 00:00:11.850 brought up those two posters, and since then, TikTok 00:00:11.850 —> 00:00:13.000 has taken them down. 00:00:13.000 —> 00:00:14.880 Since then, not before then. 00:00:14.880 —> 00:00:16.290 Are you aware of that, 00:00:16.290 —> 00:00:17.890 Mr. Chew?" 00:00:17.890 —> 00:00:19.940 "I was briefed during the break 00:00:19.940 —> 00:00:21.880 that they are taken down, obviously." 00:00:21.880 —> 00:00:23.560 "How do you feel about the fact that they 00:00:23.560 —> 00:00:27.410 were it — was up for apparently 40 some days, 41 days. 00:00:27.410 —> 00:00:29.440 And yet in the middle of this hearing, 00:00:29.440 —> 00:00:31.850 it was brought directly to your attention. 00:00:31.850 —> 00:00:35.560 And as a result, it has been taken down so quickly." 00:00:35.560 —> 00:00:37.270 "It goes to show the enormous challenge 00:00:37.270 —> 00:00:40.073 that we have to make sure that although the vast majority 00:00:40.073 —> 00:00:41.740 of the users come for a good experience, 00:00:41.740 —> 00:00:44.390 we need to make sure that bad actors don't pose, violate —" 00:00:44.390 —> 00:00:46.990 "Yes and the way, Mr. Chew, that you can make sure 00:00:46.990 —> 00:00:49.750 is that you can make sure that you choose 00:00:49.750 —> 00:00:54.010 to invest more resources, more money into more ability 00:00:54.010 —> 00:00:58.060 to pull down damaging and deadly information 00:00:58.060 —> 00:00:59.770 from your platform. 00:00:59.770 —> 00:01:03.580 Are you investing more and more and more every day 00:01:03.580 —> 00:01:06.590 into bringing down that kind of content? 00:01:06.590 —> 00:01:07.520 That's my question. 00:01:07.520 —> 00:01:08.770 Are you?" 00:01:08.770 —> 00:01:13.720 "Yes, and I commit to investing more in this regard to stay 00:01:13.720 —> 00:01:15.750 on top of the growth."

March 23, 2023, 12:20 p.m. ET

David McCabe

Reporting from Capitol Hill

The break is over, and the hearing has lasted a little over two hours. It looks like the committee could keep Shou Chew here for the full 4.5 hours expected for the hearing.

March 23, 2023, 11:55 a.m. ET

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When TikTok last year insisted it had an arm's-length relationship with the Chinese internet company ByteDance, it pointed to the fact that its own executive was in charge.

"TikTok is led by its own global C.E.O., Shou Chew, a Singaporean based in Singapore," TikTok wrote in a June letter to U.S. lawmakers.

But Mr. Chew's decision-making power over TikTok was limited, a dozen former TikTok and ByteDance employees and executives said at the time. Instead, major decisions about the service were made by Zhang Yiming, ByteDance's founder, as well as by a top ByteDance strategy executive and the head of TikTok's research and development team.

And TikTok's growth and strategy, which are led by ByteDance teams, reported not to Mr. Chew but to ByteDance's office in Beijing, the people said.

The arrangements illustrate the tightrope that Mr. Chew has walked as the head of one of the world's most popular social apps. Since being appointed TikTok's chief executive in May 2021, he has had to navigate presenting himself to the West as the autonomous leader of a global service while fulfilling the demands of the app's Chinese parent.

"If he didn't want to do something ByteDance wants him to do, he could be fired and someone else could be put in his place," Salvatore Babones, the director of China and free societies at the Center for Independent Studies, an Australian think tank, said of Mr. Chew.

March 23, 2023, 11:39 a.m. ET

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It's hard to overstate how tonally different the hearing with TikTok's chief executive is compared with past congressional hearings featuring the leaders of social media companies.

On Thursday, lawmakers came out swinging with remarkably aggressive questions for Shou Chew, TikTok's chief executive. Republicans and Democrats were united in a scathing grilling of the company's security and privacy risks and its alleged ties to the Chinese government. TikTok is owned by the Chinese internet company ByteDance.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, opened the hearing declaring that the video app should be banned. Other lawmakers peppered Mr. Chew with prosecutor-like questions about TikTok's relationship with ByteDance.

"We do not trust TikTok will ever embrace American values," Ms. Rodgers, Republican of Washington, said. "TikTok has repeatedly chosen the path for more control, more surveillance and more manipulation. Your platform should be banned."

Congress has held several hearings with tech chiefs such as Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai over privacy and security problems with their sites. In those hearings, even tough questions were couched with acknowledgments of how those American companies had bolstered innovation and the U.S. economy.

It is rare for chief executives of foreign-owned companies to testify in hearings before Congress. And Mr. Chew didn't have the buffer of Silicon Valley chiefs, with lawmakers often cutting him off midsentence, saying his answers only required a "yes" or a "no," and raising their voices at him.

"I'm not convinced that the benefits outweigh the risks that it poses to Americans in its present form," Frank Pallone, the ranking Democrat of New Jersey, said of TikTok. "The combination of TikTok's Beijing communist-based China ownership and its popularity exacerbates its danger to our country and to our privacy."

The escalating tensions between the United States and China over national security and tech and economic leadership served as the hearing's backdrop. The Biden administration has demanded TikTok separate from its Chinese ownership or face a possible ban in the United States. Hours before the hearing started, China's ministry of commerce said it would oppose a sale of the app.

March 23, 2023, 11:28 a.m. ET

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TikTok is extraordinarily popular with young people, with two-thirds of American teenagers using the app, according to Pew Research.

But TikTok has faced criticism that it's too addictive, that its highly tailored content-recommendation system can bombard teenagers with harmful videos and that it has put young people in dangerous and even lethal situations.

Lawmakers asked about these concerns on Thursday at a congressional hearing with TikTok's chief executive, Shou Chew.

Researchers have found instances in which TikTok's recommendation algorithm pushed short videos about eating disorders and self-harm to teenagers at a rapid clip, inadvertently flooding them with dangerous content. Bloomberg Businessweek recently reported that more than a dozen children had died from choking dares known as "blackout challenges" that they could have seen on TikTok. Some reports have also shown that TikTok can be a venue for child exploitation.

TikTok says it doesn't allow videos that promote self-harm, disordered eating or dangerous activities. It has been working to limit the repetition of videos about topics like sadness, extreme exercise or dieting, and said it had started filtering videos with "complex or mature themes" for users who are under 18. TikTok said its filters made more than 65,000 videos about cosmetic surgery ineligible for teen viewing in just the first two months of this year.

TikTok has also been advertising new screen time limits for the 12-and-under crowd on the app, which parents can control. Teenagers who are under 18 will also be reminded after hitting an hour on TikTok, but they can punch in their own passcode to keep watching.

Last year, a bipartisan group of state attorneys general announced that they were investigating whether the design and promotion of TikTok contributed to physical and mental health harms for teenagers and young adults.

March 23, 2023, 11:01 a.m. ET

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Project Texas is the code name for the security proposal that TikTok has submitted to the Biden administration in the company's effort to continue operating in the United States.

TikTok came up with the proposal last year to allay national security concerns that the app could be used as a surveillance and propaganda tool by the Chinese government, allegations that the company has denied. Project Texas is a technical compromise to avoid TikTok being banned in the United States and to sidestep a divestiture from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

But the White House recently rejected the plan and has instead demanded that TikTok break apart from its Chinese owners or face a possible U.S. ban. In Thursday's Congressional hearing, TikTok's chief executive, Shou Chew, has continued promoting Project Texas as the best option to protect users.

Under the proposal, TikTok would remain owned by ByteDance, but it would take steps to protect the data of American users. Those steps include:

• Putting 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 U.S.-based TikTok employees would have access to the accounts and data of U.S. users. The data would not be allowed to be transferred outside the United States. (The proposal is named Project Texas in a nod to Oracle's headquarters.)

• Having the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, or CFIUS, a panel of several agencies led by the U.S. Treasury, conduct regular audits of the new data system.

• Creating a new unit, TikTok U.S. Data Security, with 2,500 engineers, security experts, and trust and safety officials, all based in the United States, who would have access to TikTok's U.S. user data for business functions. The unit would report to a three-member board assigned by CFIUS.

• TikTok's source code, which offers insight into why certain videos are shown in users' feeds, would be reviewed by Oracle and a third-party inspector.

TikTok submitted its proposal to CFIUS in August, and the company said it was already running U.S. accounts through Oracle. The plan will cost about $1.5 billion to set up and around $1 billion annually, TikTok said.

March 23, 2023, 10:49 a.m. ET

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The Biden administration recently told TikTok it wanted the app's Chinese owners to sell their stakes or face a possible ban in the United States. But that plan hit a new roadblock on Thursday when the Chinese government said it would oppose a sale.

If the White House can't force a sale, that would effectively leave it with two options to resolve concerns that TikTok could expose Americans' data to Beijing or act as a conduit for misinformation.

• The White House could try to ban the app inside the United States, possibly by cutting off its access to Apple's and Google's app stores. But that might be impossible without legislation from Congress giving the administration more power. After former President Donald J. Trump tried to ban the app, federal courts ruled he didn't have the power to do so, limiting the options available to President Biden.

• The administration could also revisit a deal it had been negotiating with TikTok for years that would allow it to keep operating in the United States. Under the proposal, the app would store the data of its U.S. users on Oracle servers in America. The American company would also monitor how the app's algorithm recommends content to users, as a possible hedge against the app being used to spread Chinese government disinformation and propaganda. But that proposal has been met with skepticism from some of the administration's top players, including those at the Justice Department and in the White House.

Any decision to remove the app, either banning it for 150 million users in the United States or blocking further downloads, would also be politically fraught for Mr. Biden. No one encapsulated the political dilemma more pithily than Gina Raimondo, the commerce secretary, who is at the center of new export controls imposed on high-technology goods to China.

"The politician in me thinks you're going to literally lose every voter under 35, forever," she said recently to Bloomberg News.

Ms. Raimondo and other officials quickly add that bad politics is no reason to back away from a total ban if the national security threat warrants it. The problem is made more complex by the fact that some of the world's largest news organizations, including The New York Times, now have TikTok accounts, meaning that shutting down the app could appear to be shutting down the spread of fact-based news to counter Chinese disinformation.