TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew
testified before a US congressional committee on Thursday to address
mounting national security concerns about the social media and video
sharing app.
TikTok's parent company ByteDance is a Chinese company with considerable ties to the the country's government.
- In
her opening statement, Republican House Energy and Commerce Committee
chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers said that "TikTok has repeatedly chosen a
path for more control, more surveillance and more manipulation."
- Chew
denied that TikTok poses any security risk for the US and stressed that
"ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country."
- Though ByteDance was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs in China in 2012, currently 60% of the company is owned by global institutional investors, such as the Carlyle Group.
- Currently, TikTok has around 150 million US users.
