On Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on security measures in place to prevent “unauthorized foreign access” to the company’s U.S. operations from China. He says Chinese authorities cannot access the data of the app’s 150 million US users.
TikTok’s Beijing-based company owner ByteDance is exempt, despite the fact that China’s data request regulations require companies to send information about their clients to authorities, according to the CEO.
The Biden administration has called TikTok a threat to national security and called on the app’s Chinese owners to sell their stake in the company or face a potential ban.
Zi Chew reportedly added to the prepared testimony: accessible by a House committee on Tuesday night.
Zi Chew is speaking to a congressional panel about “Project Texas,” a $1.5 billion restructuring of the company responsible for storing and monitoring the vast amounts of personal data TikTok receives from its U.S. users. provides an overview.
The main takeaway is that “American data is held on American territories by American companies and monitored by American individuals,” Zi Chew hopes to tell Congress. All US TikTok data is automatically stored on Oracle’s servers, access to this information is strictly controlled by a new organization named TikTok US Data Security, and only for pre-screened employees. will be placed.”
Several countries have banned the use of apps on government-owned phones due to security concerns similar to those in the United States.
To practice “good cyber hygiene”, the UK has taken steps to block TikTok on government-issued computers and mobile devices. The European Commission has requested that all staff remove his TikTok software from their work devices by March 15.
The change follows TikTok’s admission in November that staff in China and many other countries were remotely accessing data about users in Europe. Until that point, many assumed that the information was only held in Singapore and the United States.
TikTok said recently that the app is unlikely to be blocked in the United States as some companies begin preparing for potential changes in ad spending, according to a source familiar with the matter. I’m trying to convince you.
Also Read: Everything You Need to Know About the TikTok Ban in the US