disclaimer

The writing in this article is mainly based on opinion as I interpret the coverage of the testimony. The following commentary on the testimonies with links to the testimonies and relevant coverage. There are many, often heated, opinions on this topic and the hearing. Rather than simply explaining the facts of what occurred, for many people already know what occurred and I found it more beneficial to express my opinions on the case.

TikTok Meets the house energy and commerce committee

Chinese-owned app, TikTok, has sparked some controversy in Congress recently, resulting in a hearing within the House Energy and Commerce Committee. As TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, sat in front of various congressional representatives, he was asked questions, as well as accusations, about the potential Chinese influence of the app. 

top 10 tiktok controversies

To better understand the issues that are created by TikTok, the Top 10 TikTok Controversies explains some of what seems like the most absurd occurrences that have happened within the TikTok community, both on and off of the platform. Below are the controversies, occurring between 2020 to now, listed as described in the article:

• Erasing the poor and disabled: It has been suggested that any user with an unpleasant demeanor or physicality will be censored from the For You Page. This means that anyone with a physical disability,  an “abnormal body shape,” “too many wrinkles,” obesity, or untraditional beauty standards will have a more difficult time reaching a larger audience.

• Weaponizing social media in international warfare: Back in 2020, the Chinese military killed twenty Indian soldiers on the Himalayan border. As a retaliation, India’s Ministry of Information Technology decided to ban 59 Chinese phone apps, including TikTok. This decision by the Indian Government was an attempt to suggest that all Chinese apps pose a threat to not only data privacy of users, but also to the country’s national security… sound familiar? 

• Use of unlicensed music: Also in 2020, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) publicly threatened to take TikTok to court for copyright infringement, specifically concerning royalties for artists who had viral sounds on TikTok (i.e. Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish to name a few).

• Austrian government threatens a ban: Threatening to ban all the way back in 2020, the Austrian government announced on the 4th of April, 2023 that they have received advice from security officials to ban the app, and they plan to impose this ban as soon as possible.

• Stolen content from TikTok reposted on Zynn: Many TikTok natives, such as Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae, had their videos pirated and uploaded on Zynn. Upon investigation, most of the content being posted on Zynn is stolen, plagiarized, and posted without consent.

• Data collection allegations: As discussed in the article, “As US-China relationships become increasingly strained, it is understandable for the U.S. government to be uneasy about growing Chinese influence. Secretary of State Mike Pomeo has voiced his concern that, under China’s cybersecurity laws, the Chinese government has the authority to demand users’ data from TikTok. But TikTok claims his worries are misplaced. ‘We have never provided user data to the Chinese government,’ said a spokesperson for the app, ‘nor would we do so if asked.’ Furthermore, there is no evidence that anyone from the Chinese Communist Party has tried to acquire user information from TikTok, or that the company would be forced to oblige.”

• Blocking user for calling attention to Communist Concentration Camps: It has been implied that Chinese authorities are forcefully imprisoning over a million Muslims in concentration camps, with the goal of removing their religious identities. On the contrary, Beijing has argued that these supposed camps are “voluntary re-education centers” that these individuals have decided to join on their own to help stop the spread of terrorism. When a young U.S. teenager took to TikTok in 2019 to exploit these efforts, it was eventually taken down mysteriously by TikTok, to which the platform later apologized and blamed on a “human moderation error.”
  
  

the testimonies begin

The questioning of TikTok CEO began on March 23 in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to address bipartisan concerns about the potential Chinese influence and the damage to mental health, particularly concerning children, the app is having on US users. Accumulating over 5 hours of questioning and debate, Shou Zi Chew continually assured the U.S. congresspersons that TikTok does not share ties with the Chinese Communist Party. He also attempted to persuade the lawmakers by stating that the platform placed importance on protecting the 150 million American users. It was also stated by Reuters reporters that, “Chew said TikTok for more than two years has been ‘building what amounts to a firewall to seal off protected U.S. user data from unauthorized foreign access. The bottom line is this: American data stored on American soil, by an American company, overseen by American personnel,’ Chew said.” Additional concerns that were raised by the lawmakers, again particularly concerning the impressionable minds of children, were the promotion of content that encourages eating disorders, illegal drugs, and sexual exploitation. The counterargument provided by Chew was that this issue is not unique to TikTok’s platform, and that most social media channels deal with this difficult problem as well. In general, Chew tried to appease the lawmakers by citing the fact that ByteDance has invested more than $1.5 billion on data security efforts through "Project Texas" which employs over 1,500 employees through a contract with Oracle Corp in an attempt to safely store American user data. Ironically, the testimonies resulted in various TikTok videos being posted on the platform about the particular questions that were asked to the CEO, most of them being humorous in nature. One question was notable in particular as described by Congressman Ridiculed Over TikTok WiFi Question: 

“TikTok users took to—what else—TikTok during the social media app CEO's congressional appearance Thursday to mock lawmakers who seemed like, as some called them, ‘embarrassing’ ‘corpses’ who are too old and ‘out-of-touch’ to have any idea how technology works. One of the questions being most widely mocked came from Richard Hudson, a Republican representing North Carolina, who asked Shou Zi Chew, ‘does TikTok access the home WiFi network?’ A visibly confused Chew replied, ‘Only if the user turns on the WiFi. I'm sorry, I may not understand the question.’ Hudson continued, ‘So if I have the TikTok app on my phone and my phone is on my home WiFi network, does TikTok access that network?’ Still seeming confused, Chew answered, ‘It would have to ... access the network to get connections to the internet, if that's the question.”

tiktok lawyers laugh at ban attempt

In general, the testimonies concerning TikTok were ridiculed by many of those who were following the progress over the few days that it lasted. The hearings ended leaving no clear path for how congress or the Biden Administration plans to proceed. In fact, TikTok’s lawyer, Erich Anderson, laughed at the possibility of TikTok becoming banned, and upon questioning it was said that, “Anderson responded to the question with laughter and ‘outright dismissed the possibility of a ban,’ according to the report.” It was also stated that, “The lawyer, who was appointed as TikTok's global general counsel in 2020, reportedly then said the company was ready to legally challenge a ban if it came to that. But The Verge reports that Anderson didn't discuss whether ByteDance would sell TikTok's US business — an idea that the Biden administration has reportedly pushed as the only alternative to a ban.”

Additional testimony took place before the House Homeland Security Committee with various FBI employees to discuss the potential security threat that TikTok poses to the U.S.. Christopher Wray (FBI Director), Alejandro Mayorkas (Homeland Security Secretary), and Christine Abizaid (National Counterterrorism Center Director) discussed the main threats with the Committee:

“‘They include the possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations if they so choose, or to control software on millions of devices, which gives it an opportunity to potentially technically compromise personal devices,’ Wray said.”

Again, most lawmakers on both sides seem to support the nationwide ban of TikTok for various reasons, but can they actually make it happen?

#dontbantiktok

The #DontBanTikTok movement, a project by FightForTheFuture, is a collective of those who are invested in TikTok (both as watchers and creators) who would like to prevent the app from being banned. A powerful statement on the #DontBanTikTok website states, “The RESTRICT Act is political showboating at its worst and President Biden has said he will sign it if it lands on his desk. All it will do is reinforce xenophobic tropes and silence millions of people who’ve built a platform on the app and use it for news, entertainment, activism, and community.” This movement is a call to action that demands the protection of TikTok, while simultaneously calling for privacy and antitrust laws in the Big Tech industry. By signing the petition, the movement claims that the user is sending a statement to U.S. lawmakers:

“I want my elected officials to ACTUALLY protect my sensitive data from China and other governments. Stop feeding moral panic and pass a real data privacy law to stop Big Tech companies––including TikTok!––from harvesting and abusing our personal data for profit.”

The site also quotes a lawmaker who referred to TikTok as “digital fentanyl” and urges the government to refrain from “restricting the freedom of speech of millions.” It is clear that many TikTok users are passionate about the potential ban, regardless of political party, and are rallying together to prevent U.S. lawmakers from taking access to the app away.

Months after the testimonies, there is still no word as to how the Biden Administration plans to proceed with the ban of TikTok. However, the pushback continues to be stronger and more frequent from those who feel like TikTok has made a positive impact on their life. Only time will tell the fate of the app. Social media, overall, is in an identity crisis. TikTok remains afloat amid all of the controversy. Twitter, is struggling. Meta launched Threads. Even Discord is struggling. How will your organization proceed with TikTok, if at all? Take a moment to look at your values and consider your audiences and the best strategy to reach them in a mission-focused, meaningful way.