Shou Zi Chew will testify that the app is not an “agent of China or any other country” amid claims of national security threats.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will tell US lawmakers that the Chinese-owned video app will never share user data with Beijing amid growing pressure in the US to ban the platform outright.
Chew will speak before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday, where he is expected to be questioned over claims the app could be manipulated by the Chinese Communist Party.
The company confirmed reports last week that the White House was demanding TikTok cut ties with its Chinese owners or face a ban.
“TikTok has never shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government, or received a request to share it. Nor would TikTok grant such a request if one were ever made,” Chew will testify Thursday, according to written testimony posted Tuesday by the House committee.
Chew added that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government or any other state entity.
“Let me say this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew will say.
TikTok’s critics, including U.S. lawmakers, say the app poses a risk to Americans’ privacy and U.S. national security.
TikTok has said it has spent more than $1.5 billion on an initiative to protect US users’ data known as “Project Texas”.
Beijing has accused Washington of “spreading disinformation” and “suppressing” the app.
In a TikTok post on Tuesday, Chew said more than 150 million people in the US now use TikTok each month, up from 100 million in 2020.
“That’s almost half of the US coming to TikTok to connect, create, share, learn, or just have some fun,” Chew said.
Chew also asked users of the app to “let me know in the comments what you want your chosen reps to know about what you like about TikTok.”
“Some politicians have started talking about banning TikTok. This could take TikTok away from all 100 and 50 million of you,” Chew said.
