TikTok CEO Zhou Shizi attended a hearing of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee at 10 a.m. local time on the 23rd, responding to questions from U.S. lawmakers on “national security” and other aspects. The U.S. media said that at this critical moment when TikTok is facing a forced sale or ban in the U.S., Zhou’s testimony on Capitol Hill is not only a fight for TikTok’s survival, but also another fierce battle between the U.S. and Chinese powers. Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shuang Jue-ting said at a press conference on the 23rd, ignoring the products and services themselves and forcing the sale of TikTok only from the status of foreign investors will seriously damage the confidence of investors from various countries, including China, to invest in the United States. If the news is true, China will firmly oppose it.
According to the disclosed statement, Zhou said during the hearing that TikTok’s parent company, ByteTok, was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, but has grown into a multinational company, Bloomberg reported on the 22nd. On the issue of information security, which is the most charged issue in the U.S., he said that “more than 150 million Americans love our platform” and that TikTok promises to “put safety – especially the safety of our youth – first. –TikTok is committed to “putting safety – especially the safety of youth – first; protecting U.S. user data from unauthorized external access with firewalls; that TikTok will remain a platform for free expression and will not be manipulated by any government; and that it will remain transparent and allow for oversight by third-party independent organizations. According to the Wall Street Journal, Zhou’s testimony was a carefully prepared game by TikTok to convince the U.S. government to allow it to continue operating in the U.S. with improved safety and security, while maintaining its current ownership structure.
The U.S. government’s single-minded crackdown on TikTok is not representative of the app’s 150 million users in the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, on the 22nd before the hearing, a group of U.S. netizens shouted to Congress that banning the app would provoke widespread public opposition. “It is one of the most powerful tools for young people to communicate with each other and engage in civic affairs,” said Aidan Cohen Murphy, founder of an organization that has nearly 300,000 followers on TikTok. “TikTok has an advantage over Facebook and Photo Wall (Instagram) in that it helps us find our target customer base. Because it understands the user profile better.” Ms. Deming, who is a bookstore owner, said that 90 percent of her current sales come from the TikTok platform. Some U.S. opinion leaders believe that the U.S. government’s ban is ultra vires and over-censored.
The U.S. political class is not ironclad about the crackdown on TikTok. 22, Congressmen Jamal Bauman, Mark Borkian and Robert Garcia from the Democratic Party took a stand against the U.S. ban on TikTok. 22, according to the Wall Street Journal, Bauman and others also held a press conference on Capitol Hill with dozens of TikTok content creators in solidarity with TikTok. “Why is there such hysteria and panic? Why this targeting of TikTok?” he said, suggesting that it was xenophobia against China at work.
One expert believes that the Biden administration’s bid to ban TikTok will depend on the passage of a “restriction bill” against it, Reuters said, citing experts. This is a bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. senators this month that would give the Commerce Department new powers to ban foreign technology that poses a national security risk. U.S. courts have blocked the Trump administration from banning TikTok on the grounds that it violates free speech protections, and experts believe that passage of the Restrictions Act would further empower the Commerce Department to circumvent the speech protections in current law.
The crackdown on TikTok in the U.S. has drawn the attention of China’s Ministry of Commerce. In response to the U.S. side’s request to force the sale of TikTok, Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shuang Jue-ting said at a regular press conference on the 23rd that if the information is true, China will firmly oppose it. Shuang Jue-ting also said that the sale or divestiture of TikTok involves the export of technology and must be subject to administrative licensing procedures in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations, and the Chinese government will make a decision in accordance with the law.
Xiang Ligang, chairman of the Information Consumption Alliance, told the Global Times on 23rd that TikTok already has a huge user base of 150 million in the United States, and it is unlikely that it will be suddenly and completely banned. But if the sale or divestiture of Chinese shares, it depends on the legislative provisions of both the United States and China and law enforcement, which is a complex issue.
The US has used “national security” as a reason to suppress Huawei, but has never presented any evidence, and this time it is aimed at TikTok. The government has been performing for the election, a political tactic to get votes and show it to the voters. Xiang Ligang said that this practice of suppressing Chinese enterprises is completely against international rules, destroying the order of the industrial supply chain, which is detrimental to the interests of China and the United States, and is also detrimental to the global economy.