Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) tore into TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a Thursday morning hearing, accusing him and his company of targeting American children and feeding data to the Chinese Communist Party.
Rodgers, who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, held nothing back in a blistering opening statement, saying that the platform specifically and intentionally targets children outside of communist China while protecting their own children from the platform’s harmful content.
“Mr. Chew, you are here because the American people need the truth about the threat TikTok poses to our national and personal security,” Rodgers began. “TikTok collects nearly every data point imaginable, from people’s location, to what they type and copy, who they talk to, biometric data, and more.”
Rodgers argued that TikTok – and Communist China – used the app and the access to data that it provided them to manipulate American culture, adding that she did not believe those in control of the platform would ever embrace or align with American values. Read more…
