Yes, ByteDance can access US data, but not at the behest of the Chinese government, TikTok’s CEO claims
Anyone hoping to walk away from the House hearing with smoking gun evidence of Chinese officials secretly using TikTok to engage in state censorship was left sorely disappointed. That said, lawmakers did force Chew to explicitly admit China-based employees of ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, do indeed have access to US users data “on an as-required basis.” That’s an admission TikTok has avoided in the past. Chew said all of that would change upon the completion of the company’s Project Texas US data routing initiative, but lawmakers were unconvinced.
At the same time, Chew stood his ground when asked if TikTok hands over user data or removes content to appease the Chinese government.
“We do not remove or promote content at the behest of the Chinese government,” Chew said. The CEO went on to say there are plenty of examples of content critical of China on TikTok.
When asked by Florida Rep. Neal Dunn if ByteDance had spied on U.S. users, Chew responded, “I don’t think that spying is the right way to describe it.”
