Who is Shou Zi Chew, TikTok CEO grilled by US lawmakers?
Chew told the US lawmakers that TikTok prioritises user safety in order to avoid a ban in the US by downplaying the app's ties to China.
TikTok, which has over 150 million users in the United States, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese technology firm ByteDance. Amid US' concerns over national security, the multimedia platform's chief executive Shou Zi Chew was grilled for nearly six hours on Thursday by US lawmakers about China's ability to access the data of millions of Americans.
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The lawmakers abruptly cut him off, claiming that the app was a threat to US national security as well as a danger to mental health. Chew was aggressively questioned by both Republican and Democratic representatives on topics such as TikTok's content moderation practices.
Chew told lawmakers that TikTok prioritises user safety in order to avoid a ban in the US by downplaying the app's ties to China.
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A ban will now be contingent on the passage of the "Restrict Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate this month that gives the US Commerce Department authority to prohibit foreign technology that threatens national security.
Who is Shou Zi Chew?
Chew lives in Singapore with his wife, Vivian Kao, and their two children. The 40-year-old chief executive completed his undergraduate studies in 2006 at University College London and later worked for Goldman Sachs for two years.
Chew then went on to pursue a master's degree at Harvard Business School in the United States. During his academic journey, he undertook a two-year internship at Facebook, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Upon completing his MBA, Chew went on to become a partner at DST Global, a venture capital firm, where he spent five years and contributed to investment activities that led to the formation of ByteDance. Following his tenure at DST Global, Chew spent another five years at Xiaomi, a prominent Chinese smartphone manufacturer. In 2021, he was named the CEO of TikTok, succeeding former Disney executive Kevin Mayer. Chew now reports to Liang Rubo, the CEO of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.
How did Chew's questioning with US lawmakers go?
The result of the questioning did not bring Shou Zi Chew any close to answer the question whether the Chinese-owned TikTok will face a ban in the US. At one point, when the lawmakers asked if ByteDance’s Chinese engineers have access to the data of American users, he said: “It’s a complex subject.”
Chew spent the majority of the hearing trying to refute claims that TikTok or ByteDance are tools of the Chinese government. But he refused to answer uncomfortable questions about China's human rights violations against Uyghurs, and he appeared to be taken aback by a TikTok video shown by one lawmaker that advocated for violence against the House committee holding the hearing.
Chew told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that TikTok prioritises the safety of its young users and denies that it poses a national security risk. He reiterated the company's plan to safeguard US user data by storing it on Oracle-managed and owned servers.
(With inputs from agencies)
