WASHINGTON — Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy is counting on lawmakers to pass a bipartisan bill to address national security concerns caused by TikTok, a short-video app owned by China’s ByteDance. McCarthy said so on Friday, calling the company chief’s testimony “very disturbing.”
TikTok CEO Chu Show Tzu testified before a House committee for five hours on Thursday, answering burning questions from lawmakers on both sides about the app, which is used by up to 150 million Americans, according to the last digits.
“We have a business leader who can’t tell you that China doesn’t collect data for espionage,” McCarthy said.
In the United States, there are growing calls to ban TikTok or pass legislation that would give the Biden administration the legal authority to seek such a ban. In 2020, President Donald Trump lost several lawsuits seeking a ban on TikTok and another Chinese app, WeChat.
McCarthy, a state third party, apparently commented on the exchange of lines during the hearing, which TikTok officials say was misinterpreted.
During Thursday’s hearing, Representative Neil Dunn asked Chu Shou Tzu if ByteDance was spying on Americans at the behest of Beijing. The CEO of the social network replied in the negative.
After that, Republican Dunn referred to reports published in December that some ByteDance employees who worked in China had unauthorized access to the user data of two journalists and no longer worked for the company. Dunn repeated his question about espionage.
“I don’t think spying is the right description,” Chu Shou Zi said. He said was about an “internal investigation,” but Dunn cut him off, calling TikTok’s widespread adoption “cancer.”
Many Democrats have also expressed concern, but do not yet support a US ban on the app.
“There are real national security concerns about TikTok,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Friday, pointing to privacy and consumer protection concerns.
Chu Shou Zi posted a video on TikTok in which he spoke about his testimony during the hearing.
“We will continue to protect your data from unauthorized foreign access,” he said in the video.
The Senate Commerce Committee has yet to schedule a hearing on a bill introduced by Senators Mark Warner and John Toon that would allow the US Department of Commerce to ban foreign technologies that pose a threat to national security. These hearings can take place no earlier than mid-April, when the Senate resumes after recess.
