Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe CEO of TikTok tried to reassure U.S. lawmakers — who have renewed concerns over its sharing of U.S.
user data with employees in China — that the video app company is taking steps to restrict that access to only a “narrow” slice of data.TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew sent a letter dated June 30 to nine GOP senators in response to their inquiry this week “demanding answers on TikTok’s backdoor data access for Beijing,” a reference to China’s communist regime.
Fears that TikTok represents a national security threat go back several years. In August 2020, President Trump ordered Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell majority control of TikTok to American entities under the threat of TikTok being shut down in the U.S.; that was blocked by U.S.
federal courts. In his letter, Chew wrote, “Many of your questions appear to stem from a recent BuzzFeed article, which contains allegations and insinuations that are incorrect and are not supported by facts.”That’s a reference to a June 17 BuzzFeed News report that TikTok employees in China have “repeatedly” accessed U.S.-based users’ data.
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