TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is Singaporean, not Chinese. Somebody please convince Senator Tom Cotton.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is Singaporean, not Chinese. Somebody please convince Senator Tom Cotton.
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a four-hour hearing concerning children's online safety this week, entitled "Massive Tech and the On-line Youngster Sexual Exploitation Disaster." Unfortunately, you'd do not know this was the topic in the event you only 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, including Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter/X's Linda Yaccarino, Snap's Evan Spiegel, and Discord's Jason Citron (although the latter three had to be subpoenaed). Each huge tech exec was questioned about safety on their platforms, with Zuckerberg even turning to directly apologise to parents whose youngsters had been harmed by social media.
TikTok's CEO is more more likely to turn into American than Chinese language
Yet despite the significance of the subject, the hearing took an aggravating detour when it came time to query Chew, the CEO of ByteDance subsidiary TikTok. Somewhat than give attention to what the video sharing platform is doing to protect 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 isn't Chinese.&
"Of what nation are you a citizen?" Cotton asked Chew in an change that's being widely shared on Twitter/X.&
"Singapore, sir," responded Chew. Singapore is a small, unbiased island nation in Southeast Asia which isn't and has never been part of China.
"Are you a citizen of another nation?" continued Cotton.&
"No, senator."
Others on this state of affairs would move on, or current proof on the contrary if that they had any. As an alternative, Cotton proceeded to pursue this line of questioning for a full minute, seemingly unable to take the truth for a solution. Discovering new methods to repeatedly pose the identical query, Cotton asked if Chew has ever utilized for Chinese citizenship ("No, I didn't"), whether or not he has a Singaporean passport ("Yes, and I served my army for two and a half years in Singapore"), and whether or not he holds some other passports ("No, senator").
The truth is, Chew indicated that he might apply for American citizenship, as his wife and youngsters are U.S. residents. Still, this didn't satisfy Cotton.
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"Have you ever ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Get together?" requested Cotton.
"Senator, I am Singaporean," stated Chew, beginning to sound a bit incredulous at this stage. "No."
"Have you ever been related or affiliated with the Chinese Communist Celebration?"
"No, senator. Again, I am Singaporean."
Then, bizarrely, Cotton pressed Chew on his view of the events in Tiananmen Sq., Beijing in 1989, whether or not the Chinese language government is committing genocide towards the Uyghur individuals, and whether or not Chinese president Xi Jinping is a dictator.
Once more, this hearing was about youngsters's on-line safety.
Cotton's line of questioning was disappointing, and never only as a result of it bore little relation to the precise topic of the hearing. The difficulty of Chew's nationality had been thoroughly addressed earlier than this week, with TikTok's CEO having always and persistently restated that he's Singaporean, born, raised, and at present residing.
The change between Cotton and Chew drew vital consideration on-line, with many criticising the senator for his "xenophobic," "racist" questioning and likening it to McCarthyism. Others compared it to a scene from King of the Hill through which protagonist Hank asks Kahn whether or not he is Chinese or Japanese despite being clearly advised he is Laotian.
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There are authentic considerations about TikTok's security. This is not one among them.
General, Cotton's aggressive interrogation appeared extra like a grandstanding waste of time than a productive portion of the hearing. Still, the senator stood behind it. Hours after the listening to concluded, Cotton claimed on Fox News that "Singapore unfortunately is among the places on the planet that has the very best diploma of infiltration and influence by the Chinese language Communist Social gathering.
Setting apart Cotton's obvious belief that there is a real and vital probability of Singaporean residents being agents for the Chinese Communist Social gathering — a perception he did not voice at the listening to — the senator was unable to offer any evidence to help his implication that Chew is sympathetic to the Chinese government. When asked on Fox News, Cotton merely cited the truth that TikTok's CEO has beforehand worked for other Chinese corporations.
Although Cotton's allegations about TikTok's ties to the Chinese language authorities have been by far probably the most tenuous, he wasn't the only senator who expressed concern. Known TikTok enemy Senator Josh Hawley grilled Chew about TikTok's Chinese staff accessing U.S. users' knowledge, accusing the corporate of primarily being "an espionage arm for the Chinese Communist Party."&
An inner investigation by TikTok in 2022 did discover that four employees in China had improperly accessed the data of two U.S. journalists, nevertheless the corporate addressed the state of affairs and has since made efforts to wall off American users' knowledge. This included investing $1.5 billion and dedicating 2,000 staff to Project Texas, an initiative to restructure TikTok in order that U.S. knowledge is saved within the U.S. by U.S. company Oracle.
Chew turned a TikTok meme and internet hero after a congressional hearing last March, with users posting fan edits of the CEO and praising him for his affected person answers to lawmakers' stunningly misinformed questions. Sadly, it appears Congress hasn't learnt a lot in the yr since.
TikTok definitely isn't a perfect company, and its efforts to protect American customers' knowledge still have flaws. But when U.S. lawmakers need to make any type of influence in terms of addressing online safety, or even just earn the help of their internet-savvy constituents, they are going to should significantly rethink their strategy.
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