TikTok CEO calls India's ban 'hypothetical' as he gets grilled before US Congress

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew got grilled before a US congressional hearing that lasted for almost five hours. He faced a number of questions over security concerns and the potential Chinese government’s influence on the Chinese app.

 

Surprisingly, the hearing witnessed a rare scenario where even the opposition called for banning the app. It should be noted that this was Chow’s first-ever appearance before the US lawmakers as the TikTok CEO.

 

Among the several questions was India's ban on Tiktok. US lawmaker Debbie Lesko quoted India and other countries that have recently banned TikTok in some form. "This (TikTok) is a tool which is ultimately under the control of the Chinese government and screams out with national security concerns Mr Chew. How can all of these countries and our FBI director be wrong? asked Lesko.

 

To which Chew responded, “I think a lot of risks pointed out are hypothetical and theoretical risks. I have not seen any evidence."

 

The US lawmaker reiterated and stressed the India ban again.

 

"India banned TikTok in 2020. On March 21, a Forbes article revealed how data of Indian citizens who used TikTok remained accessible to employees at the company and its Beijing-based parent. A current TikTok employee told Forbes that nearly anyone with basic access to company tools can easily look up the closest contact and other sensitive information about any user," Lesko informed her colleagues.

 

Chew responded by saying that they are looking into the testimony of the TikTok employee quoted by Forbes and asserted that he disagrees with the conclusions drawn from that article.

 

"This is a recent article; I have asked my team to look into it. We have rigorous data access protocols. There is no such thing that anybody can access the tools. So, I disagree with a lot of the conclusions," Chew said.

 

In 2020, India banned TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps over privacy and security concerns. The ban was imposed shortly after a clash between Indian and Chinese troops at the Ladakh border in Galwan Valley LAC where 20 Indian soldiers were killed. The companies were given a chance to respond to questions on privacy and security requirements but the ban was made permanent in January 2021.

 

However, the TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew that China-based employees at its parent company ByteDance may still have access to some US data from the app but added that won’t be the case once its risk mitigation plan, called Project Texas, is complete.

 

This came after Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, asked Chew if any ByteDance employee in China could currently access US data. “After Project Texas is done, the answer is no,” Chew said. “Today, there is still some data that we need to delete.”

 

 

Now, this is why India banned Chinese app.