TikTok CEO to face Congress on Thursday. Here’s how to watch

By Trevor Mogg March 22, 2023

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before Congress

TikTok CEO Shou Chew faces the fight of his life on Thursday, when he will try to convince a congressional committee that the hugely popular app poses no threat to national security.

If he fails, TikTok could face a U.S.-wide ban that would prevent new downloads and stop U.S-based users from receiving updates to keep the app functioning properly.

TikTok has come under increasing scrutiny since 2020, when then-President Donald Trump threatened to ban it nationwide. Since then, the app has been banned from federal devices.

So, why is TikTok deemed such a problem by some lawmakers? Well, they believe that as it’s owned by a Chinese firm, ByteDance, the huge amount of data that it has on American citizens could be utilized by the Chinese Communist Party to learn more about the nation’s behavior, predilections, and more. Some fear Beijing could also tweak TikTok’s algorithm to send misinformation to users.

Chew will attempt to defend the app on Thursday, offering reassurances about how it handles TikTok user data and insisting that it’s safe in the company’s hands.

On Tuesday, Chew released a video where he revealed for the first time that 150 million people in the U.S. use TikTok, among them 5 million businesses — comments designed to show just how woven the app is into the fabric of American life.

“Some politicians have started talking about banning TikTok,” Chou said in the video, adding: “This could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you.”

The results of a recent poll carried out by the Washington Post suggested that more Americans back a TikTok ban than oppose one (41% versus 25%), with most respondents voicing concerns about the app’s link to China.

How to watch Shou Chew defend TikTok

Chou needs to be at the top of his game to convince the congressional committee that TikTok poses no problems for the U.S. You can watch his defense of the app via the player embedded at the top of this page or by heading to C-Span’s YouTube channel, which will carry the same feed.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Gaming

TikTok is launching a dedicated gaming channel

TikTok is moving further into the games industry by launching its own dedicated gaming channel.

According to a report from Financial Times, the channel will allow TikTok users to access games by pressing a tab on the ByteDance-owned social media platform's homepage. Four people familiar with the matter said that the channel will feature a variety of mobile games — some of which the company already developed — with ads and additional content that users can purchase.

Social Media

Is TikTok leaking drafts? Let’s take a closer look at this rumor

The TikTok app on a smartphone's screen. The smartphone is sitting on a white table.

Not every social media post is ready for prime time. Sometimes you write a post or film a video and decide that it's better to not publish it. That's fine. That's what the Drafts folder is for. That folder is built to hold your works-in-progress, mistakes, and other too-goofy-for-public-consumption posts and videos. The Drafts folder is probably one that you take for granted, but what if that folder (via a particularly viral-prone social media platform) were to have its content leaked and published for the world to see? Scary, isn't it?

That's the fear that's behind a certain, now years-long TikTok rumor going around. But is it true? Is TikTok leaking its users' drafts? In this guide, we're taking a closer look at this rumor and fact-checking it.
The rumor
As far as we can tell, the whole "TikTok leaks drafts" rumor dates back to at least the summer of 2020. It's not a rumor that really made mainstream news headlines, but it did get some coverage with lesser-known websites, and it does have a tendency to resurface repeatedly. The last time it resurfaced was in August 2022. Here's what we know about it:

Social Media

TikTok pivots to photos while its competitors are still chasing its viral videos

Smartphone with TikTok's Photo Mode all on a white background.

TikTok's competitors have been all over the news recently for essentially copying the short-form video sharing app's most successful moves. But while everyone else is pivoting to video, TikTok is now taking swings in the other direction: photos.

On Thursday, TikTok announced a slew of new editing and creation features, but the one tool that caught our eye was Photo Mode. Because the image that TikTok shared in its official announcement depicted a photo carousel-style image post that looks a lot like Instagram.