TikTok in the US

The CEO of the Chinese social network TikTok Shou Zi Chew has agreed to testify before the U.S. Congress in late March because of growing concerns by U.S. authorities that personal information of Chinese citizens could come into the possession of the PRC. The Wall Street Journal reported this on Monday.

According to the newspaper, March 23, the head of TikTok for the first time will appear before the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives. The hearing will give lawmakers an opportunity to study the issue and decide to ban the use of the social network on the entire territory of the United States.

As the newspaper notes, Shou Zi Chew has agreed to speak before the U.S. Congress to directly address the Americans and allay their fears.

At the end of December last year, U.S. President Joe Biden approved the country's budget for fiscal year 2023, the document included a provision prohibiting civil servants to use the application TikTok on work devices. Earlier, TV channel CNN reported that the authorities of more than half of U.S. states partially or completely banned the use of TikTok on office devices due to fears that their data could fall into the possession of Beijing.

It is worth noting that before that the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, said that U.S. intelligence believes that TikTok is a threat to national security.

In his opinion, the Chinese authorities have the ability to obtain the personal data of American users of TikTok, as well as control the kind of materials posted on this social network. The TikTok platform has more than 100 million users in the United States.