In prepared remarks released ahead of the testimony, Chew said he will make several commitments aimed to address the security concerns, including prioritizing safety particularly for teens, securing U.S. user data from unauthorized foreign access and promoting freedom of expression that is not be influenced by any government.
Chew addressed concerns raised by U.S. lawmakers about China possibly having access to American data since its owner ByteDance is based in the country and subject to Chinese laws on handing over data. Chew denied that the company is in such a position.
“I understand that there are concerns stemming from the inaccurate belief that TikTok’s corporate structure makes it beholden to the Chinese government or that it shares information about U.S. users with the Chinese government. This is emphatically untrue,” Chew says in his prepared remarks.
He said TikTok is led by an executive team based in the U.S. and Singapore and noted the company has offices across the globe.
“TikTok has never shared, or received a request to share, U.S. user data with the Chinese government,” Chew said. “Nor would TikTok honor such a request if one were ever made. Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country.”
However, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who released a statement on Wednesday, said that while he appreciates Chew’s willingness to testify before Congress, “TikTok’s lack of transparency, repeated obfuscations, and misstatements of fact have severely undermined the credibility of any statements by TikTok employees, including Mr. Chew.”
Chew’s upcoming testimony follows the Biden administration’s announcement last week that it would ban the app in the U.S. if ByteDance does not sell its stake to an American company.
