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The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a four-hour listening to regarding youngsters’s on-line security this week, entitled “Massive Tech and the On-line Baby Sexual Exploitation Disaster.” Sadly, you’d don’t know this was the topic in case you solely heard Senator Tom Cotton’s questions for TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.
Congress heard testimony from a who’s who of social media CEOs on Wednesday, together with Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter/X’s Linda Yaccarino, Snap’s Evan Spiegel, and Discord‘s Jason Citron (although the latter three needed to be subpoenaed). Every massive tech exec was questioned about security on their platforms, with Zuckerberg even turning to immediately apologise to folks whose youngsters had been harmed by social media.
TikTok’s CEO is extra more likely to change into American than Chinese language
But regardless of the significance of the subject, the listening to took an aggravating detour when it got here time to query Chew, the CEO of ByteDance subsidiary TikTok. Quite than give attention to what the video sharing platform is doing to guard youngsters, Arkansas senator Cotton turned his consideration to the topic of Chew’s nationality, seemingly unable to grasp that whereas TikTok’s CEO is Asian, he’s not Chinese language.
“Of what nation are you a citizen?” Cotton requested Chew in an trade that’s being extensively shared on Twitter/X.
“Singapore, sir,” responded Chew. Singapore is a small, impartial island nation in Southeast Asia which isn’t and has by no means been part of China.
“Are you a citizen of some other nation?” continued Cotton.
“No, senator.”
Others on this state of affairs would transfer on, or current proof on the contrary if they’d any. As a substitute, Cotton proceeded to pursue this line of questioning for a full minute, seemingly unable to take the reality for a solution. Discovering new methods to repeatedly pose the identical query, Cotton requested if Chew has ever utilized for Chinese language citizenship (“No, I didn’t”), whether or not he has a Singaporean passport (“Sure, and I served my navy for 2 and a half years in Singapore”), and whether or not he holds some other passports (“No, senator”).
In truth, Chew indicated that he might apply for American citizenship, as his spouse and kids are U.S. residents. Nonetheless, this did not fulfill Cotton.
“Have you ever ever been a member of the Chinese language Communist Celebration?” requested Cotton.
“Senator, I am Singaporean,” mentioned Chew, starting to sound a bit incredulous at this stage. “No.”
“Have you ever ever been related or affiliated with the Chinese language Communist Celebration?”
“No, senator. Once more, I’m Singaporean.”
Then, bizarrely, Cotton pressed Chew on his view of the occasions in Tiananmen Sq., Beijing in 1989, whether or not the Chinese language authorities is committing genocide towards the Uyghur folks, and whether or not Chinese language president Xi Jinping is a dictator.
Once more, this listening to was about youngsters’s on-line security.
Cotton’s line of questioning was disappointing, and never solely as a result of it bore little relation to the precise topic of the listening to. The problem of Chew’s nationality had been totally addressed earlier than this week, with TikTok’s CEO having consistently and persistently restated that he’s Singaporean, born, raised, and at the moment residing.
The trade between Cotton and Chew drew important consideration on-line, with many criticising the senator for his “xenophobic,” “racist” questioning and likening it to McCarthyism. Others in contrast it to a scene from King of the Hill by which protagonist Hank asks Kahn whether or not he’s Chinese language or Japanese regardless of being clearly advised he’s Laotian.
There are legit considerations about TikTok’s security. This isn’t considered one of them.
General, Cotton’s aggressive interrogation appeared extra like a grandstanding waste of time than a productive portion of the listening to. Nonetheless, the senator stood behind it. Hours after the listening to concluded, Cotton claimed on Fox Information that “Singapore sadly is among the locations on this planet that has the best diploma of infiltration and affect by the Chinese language Communist Celebration.
Setting apart Cotton’s obvious perception that there’s a actual and important probability of Singaporean residents being brokers for the Chinese language Communist Celebration — a perception he didn’t voice on the listening to — the senator was unable to offer any proof to help his implication that Chew is sympathetic to the Chinese language authorities. When requested on Fox Information, Cotton merely cited the truth that TikTok’s CEO has beforehand labored for different Chinese language corporations.
Although Cotton’s allegations about TikTok’s ties to the Chinese language authorities had been by far probably the most tenuous, he wasn’t the one senator who expressed concern. Recognized TikTok enemy Senator Josh Hawley grilled Chew about TikTok’s Chinese language staff accessing U.S. customers’ knowledge, accusing the corporate of basically being “an espionage arm for the Chinese language Communist Celebration.”
An inner investigation by TikTok in 2022 did discover that 4 staff in China had improperly accessed the information of two U.S. journalists, nonetheless the corporate addressed the state of affairs and has since made efforts to wall off American customers’ knowledge. This included investing $1.5 billion and dedicating 2,000 staff to Undertaking Texas, an initiative to restructure TikTok in order that U.S. knowledge is saved within the U.S. by U.S. firm Oracle.
Chew turned a TikTok meme and web hero after a congressional listening to final March, with customers posting fan edits of the CEO and praising him for his affected person solutions to lawmakers’ stunningly misinformed questions. Sadly, it appears Congress hasn’t learnt a lot within the yr since.
TikTok actually is not an ideal firm, and its efforts to guard American customers’ knowledge nonetheless have flaws. But when U.S. lawmakers need to make any form of influence in terms of addressing on-line security, and even simply earn the help of their internet-savvy constituents, they are going to must considerably rethink their strategy.
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