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TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify earlier than the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday morning as his firm fights to stave off a possible ban within the U.S.
Chew plans to inform Congress that he strongly prioritizes the protection of customers, significantly teenagers, and that TikTok will firewall U.S. person knowledge from “unauthorized foreign access.” Chew additionally plans to say that the corporate “will not be manipulated by any government” and it will likely be clear and permit impartial screens to evaluate its compliance.
TikTok has touted a posh plan referred to as Project Texas to assist ease U.S. issues over its possession. Under the plan, it’s going to base its U.S. knowledge operations domestically and permit its code to be reviewed and despatched to the app shops by exterior events.
TikTok is owned by Chinese web big ByteDance, and there are longstanding fears amongst U.S. policymakers that the Chinese authorities might drive TikTok to show over the huge trove of private knowledge it collects as a part of its business mannequin.
After two years of negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment within the United States, or CFIUS, the White House reportedly demanded final week that ByteDance promote TikTok. On Thursday, a Chinese commerce ministry spokeswoman mentioned, “If the news is true, China will resolutely oppose it.”
The Biden administration has additionally thrown its help behind a brand new bipartisan Senate invoice that may give the Commerce Department the facility to ban TikTok within the United States. That invoice and others prefer it in Congress have attracted scores of co-sponsors, each Democrats and Republicans.
TikTok grew to become a viral sensation within the U.S. by permitting customers — significantly younger individuals — to create and share quick movies. The firm introduced this week that it has 150 million customers within the United States, a determine that, if confirmed, quantities to just about half of the U.S. inhabitants.
Source: www.cnbc.com