Time's Up? TikTok CEO Dodges GOP Rep's Question on Platform's Responsibility to Keep American Users Safe

Nick Kangadis | March 23, 2023
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Despite the outcry of many to the dangers of the social media app, TikTok, many of those same people still use the platform because it’s a vehicle for clicks. Personally, I have always reviled TikTok, told anyone who would listen not to use it, and yet, my criticisms go unheard. So did former President Donald Trump, who tried to ban the app from use in the U.S.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has allegedly been in cahoots with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the allegations of which only increased after the CCP reportedly bought shares in ByteDance.

According to Business Insider, although the CCP only bought one percent of shares in ByteDance, those shares are considered “special management shares,” which allows the CCP “special rights over certain business decisions.”

That brings us to today, Thursday, March 23, 2023.

Related: A New Low? Drew Barrymore Kneels Before Trans TikTok Star Dylan Mulvaney On Live TV

During testimony to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew dodged and evaded a direct question from Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) concerning the platform not monitoring posts that encourage suicide among young adults, despite his reported claims that he “has taken pains to distance himself from the Chinese Communist Party.

Following a short video showing examples of such posts, Bilirakis asked Chew about whether or not TikTok feels a sense of responsibility towards allowing posts that have led to the suicide of American youth.

“Mr. Chew, yes or no,” Bilirakis began. “Do you have full responsibility for your algorithms used by TikTok to prioritize content to its users? Yes or no, please.”

While Bilirakis did interrupt Chew each time he got a few words out, Chew was directed to answer with a “yes” or a “no.” Each of the three times Chew began to answer, he gave typical corporate, propagandistic answers. Bilirakis wasn’t impressed.

“I see you’re not willing to answer the question or take responsibility for your parent company’s technology and harm it creates,” Bilirakis said. “It’s just very, very sad. Very sad. This is why Congress needs to enact a comprehensive privacy and data security law to give Americans more control over their information and to protect our children. We must save our children from Big Tech companies like yours who continue to abuse and manipulate them for your own gain.”

Anything associated with the CCP should be extradited from this country, including the growing amount of Chinese nationals flowing through our borders daily now.

 

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