Controversial video app: US Congress questions TikTok boss Chew

Today, TikTok boss Chew has to answer questions in the US Congress. Politicians from both parties are exploring the possibility of banning the video platform. They suspect that China is using the app for espionage purposes.

Ban TikTok? Over 100 million users in the US – mostly young people – would be massively upset. But at the same time, criticism of the Chinese video app is growing tremendously. Democrats and Republicans have drafted legislation that could result in TikTok being banned.

The reason is security concerns. The Chinese company Bytedance’s app poses a risk to US national security, FBI chief Christopher Wray said at a recent hearing.

“Back Door for the Communist Party”

Specifically, the secret services fear espionage by the Chinese government. Many members of Congress are also certain that the Chinese leadership can access the TikTok group’s user data.

The chairman of the foreign affairs committee, Republican Michael McCaul, also has the same suspicions. “TikTok is a backdoor for the Chinese Communist Party to get personal information or passwords. It’s like letting a spy balloon into your phone.”

In fact, according to a cybersecurity firm’s report last year, the TikTok app can access users’ microphone, camera, location, text messages, and other private data. In addition, security authorities fear that TikTok could promote Chinese propaganda or suppress content that does not suit the Chinese government. TikTok has long since been banned on government employees’ devices and in the White House.

Chew courts trust

“Propaganda is indeed a concern, especially regarding China. But Chinese companies might as well buy ads on US websites. And the Russian propaganda campaign at the time was on Facebook,” argues Georgetown University legal scholar Anupam Chander.

Concerns in the US are so great that TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew has to appear before a congressional committee today. Chew had tried hard in advance to regain trust in TikTok. In writing, he asserted that TikTok had never shared data from US users with the Chinese government.

TikTok would never comply with such a request. In addition, the company does not see itself as a subsidiary of the Chinese company Bytedance, since the app is 60 percent owned by Western investors.

Threat from the Biden administration

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is unlikely to be satisfied with such assurances. However, legal expert Chander considers it unlikely that the TikTok app will actually be banned in the end. With the threat of banning TikTok, the Biden administration hopes the app will be taken over by a non-Chinese owner, he suspects.

In fact, the US government is demanding the exit of Chinese shareholders. Whether it will come to that, however, is more than questionable.

Faeser: Ban not proportionate

In Germany, too, there are massive data protection concerns and fears about the Chinese government accessing TikTok user data. “You have to explain very clearly that this is a company that is state-owned and from which the data can of course also leak,” said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser during her visit to Washington.

It is also important to pay attention to what “political messages” are being broadcast on TikTok and whether there is “propaganda”. Faeser emphasized that the app had “never been allowed” on company cell phones in the federal administration for security reasons. A general ban on the app would be “not proportionate”.