TikTok CEO To Face Questioning From Congress

(FreedomBeacon.com)- The CEO of TikTok is going to face the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week as Congress deliberates on legislation that will potentially ban the social media application from the United States, according to Fox News. TikTok has come under scrutiny by lawmakers and federal agencies alike over threats to national security.  

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently testified that the app has the power to manipulate the minds of its 150 million U.S. users. He added that the app is bound by the rules the Chinese Communist Party sets out for them, saying that this screams to him that the app is a tool of the CCP that is ultimately dangerous for the U.S.  

Shou Zi Chew is going to make his first appearance in front of Congress as TikTok undergoes a security review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS). The committee has reportedly investigated the social media app since 2019.  

The RESTRICT Act is a bipartisan bill designed to address the ongoing threat posed by technology from foreign adversaries,” and to “mitigate information communications and technology transactions that pose undue risk to our national security,” but some critics say that it will not actually ban TikTok, according to American Pigeon 

Rep. Jim Banks said that the bill was only being backed by the White House specifically because it will not ban the Chinese application, calling China Biden’s biggest benefactor.  

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has been involved in multiple scandals going against its claim of transparency. In June 2022, news broke that the app was collecting users’ information through their iOS clipboards, according to American Pigeon 

Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who is also sponsoring the bill, said that former President Donald Trump was right and said that the app is “an enormous threat.” He said that parents should be very concerned if their child is using it.