In a new letter dated Thursday, TikTok sent US lawmakers more information regarding how it restricts Chinese access to American data in response to years of increasing pressure.
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| Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge |
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew explained how the firm intended to isolate American user data from ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, in a letter to nine of the app's most famous Republican detractors. Additionally, Chew discussed TikTok's proposal to store user data from American users on Oracle servers, which was first revealed by BuzzFeed News last month.
Chew stated in the letter, which was first published by The New York Times, "We're thrilled to be able to serve a global community of more than a billion people who use TikTok to creatively express themselves and be entertained." "We realize we are among the most closely watched platforms in terms of security, and we strive to dispel any uncertainty over the protection of U.S. user data," the company said.
The legitimacy of the letter was independently verified by The Verge on Friday.
Republican senators questioned Chew about the company's data security procedures in a June letter shortly after BuzzFeed News revealed that ByteDance engineers in China had access to US data as late as January 2022. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), among others, signed the letter, which expressed worry that TikTok representatives "did not provide facts or candid responses" in a recent committee meeting in light of the study.
"TIKTOK MUST RETURN AND TESTIFY IN FRONT OF CONGRESS"
In response to Chew's letter on Thursday, Blackburn issued a statement urging TikTok to appear before Congress once more.
TikTok's statement, according to Blackburn, "confirms that our concerns regarding CCP influence within the company are well-founded." They should have been upfront from the beginning but instead tried to conceal their efforts. Americans need to be aware that Communist China has access to their data if they use TikTok. TikTok must return and appear before Congress.
Republicans have expressed concerns about TikTok's success among American users since since 2020, alleging that the app directly shares US data with the Chinese government. Ex-President Donald Trump signed an executive order that effectively outlawed TikTok in the US at the end of August 2020. The decree was repeatedly overturned by federal judges, but Republicans persisted in pushing back against the app.
Brendan Carr, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, wrote to Apple and Google just last month to suggest that they take TikTok out of their app stores. Carr requested statements from the tech behemoths in the event that they choose not to remove the app, even though the FCC lacks the jurisdiction to outlaw apps.
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