Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, was grilled for nearly six hours by US lawmakers about concerns over China’s potential access to US user data. Chew reiterated that TikTok prioritizes user safety and downplays its ties to China to avoid being banned in the US. Despite this, lawmakers expressed concerns about the app’s content moderation practices and its potential threat to US national security. The hearing was inconclusive, leaving the future of TikTok in the US uncertain. Chew’s background includes a master’s degree from Harvard Business School, a two-year internship at Facebook, and work at DST Global and Xiaomi before being named TikTok’s CEO in 2021. The top five relevant keywords for this article are TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, ByteDance, national security, and user safety.
Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, was recently grilled by US lawmakers for nearly six hours on Thursday. The multimedia platform, which has over 150 million users in the United States, is owned by the Chinese technology firm ByteDance. US lawmakers raised concerns over China’s potential access to the data of millions of Americans, leading to Chew’s aggressive questioning.
During the hearing, Chew claimed that TikTok prioritizes user safety and downplays its ties to China to avoid being banned in the US. However, the lawmakers remained unconvinced and claimed that the app posed a threat to US national security as well as a danger to mental health.
The app’s content moderation practices were also questioned by both Republican and Democratic representatives. While Chew’s testimony did not seem to sway the lawmakers, a ban will now depend on the passing of the “Restrict Act,” a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate this month that gives the US Commerce Department authority to prohibit foreign technology that threatens national security.
Shou Zi Chew, the 40-year-old CEO, lives in Singapore with his wife, Vivian Kao, and their two children. He completed his undergraduate studies at University College London in 2006 and later worked for Goldman Sachs for two years. Chew then pursued a master’s degree at Harvard Business School and completed a two-year internship at Facebook during his academic journey.
Following his MBA, Chew became a partner at DST Global, a venture capital firm, where he spent five years contributing to investment activities that led to the formation of ByteDance. Chew later spent another five years at Xiaomi, a prominent Chinese smartphone manufacturer, before being named the CEO of TikTok in 2021, succeeding former Disney executive Kevin Mayer. Chew now reports to Liang Rubo, the CEO of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.
Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, was unable to provide a definitive answer during a hearing in the US about whether the app will face a ban. Chew spent most of the hearing trying to deny accusations that TikTok and ByteDance are influenced by the Chinese government. However, he refused to address inquiries about China’s human rights abuses against Uyghurs and seemed surprised by a TikTok video shown by one lawmaker advocating violence against the committee. Chew emphasized TikTok’s commitment to protecting young users and dismissed claims that it poses a national security threat. He also reaffirmed the company’s plan to protect US user data by storing it on Oracle-owned and managed servers.
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