TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew

When TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before Congress, he probably wasn't expecting that he'd be the latest trend.

[Check more on the latest TikTok trends here.](https://www.dexerto.com/tiktok/) [appeared before Congress](https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/united-states-tiktok-app-ban-1966889/) to testify about the company’s handling of user data, he probably wasn’t expecting that he’d be the latest trend on his own app. [TikToks](https://www.dexerto.com/tiktok/), which show the highlights of his performances in the congressional hearing, as well as a mix of other footage he posted himself before speaking to politicians.

Chew told the US lawmakers that TikTok prioritises user safety in order to avoid a ban in the US by downplaying the app's ties to China.

He reiterated the company's plan to safeguard US user data by storing it on Oracle-managed and owned servers. But he refused to answer uncomfortable questions about China's human rights violations against Uyghurs, and he appeared to be taken aback by a TikTok video shown by one lawmaker that advocated for violence against the House committee holding the hearing. At one point, when the lawmakers asked if ByteDance’s Chinese engineers have access to the data of American users, he said: “It’s a complex subject.” Chew then went on to pursue a master's degree at Harvard Business School in the United States. Amid US' concerns over national security, the multimedia platform's chief executive Shou Zi Chew was grilled for nearly six hours on Thursday by US lawmakers about China's ability to access the data of millions of Americans. Following his tenure at DST Global, Chew spent another five years at Xiaomi, a prominent Chinese smartphone manufacturer.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who testified before the US Congress for the first time, has said the short-video making platform will never share US users' data ...

The committee also pressed Chew over measures that TikTok is taking to protect kids on the app. “Now this could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you.” “This is emphatically untrue,” he told the committee members.

If the federal government comes to the conclusion that TikTok should be banned, is it even possible to ban it for all of its 150 million existing users?

It could be that the algorithm’s manipulative behavior is unintentional, but there is concern that the Chinese government has been using or could use the algorithm to influence people. [particularly young people](https://theconversation.com/facebooks-own-internal-documents-offer-a-blueprint-for-making-social-media-safer-for-teens-169080). [The Conversation](https://theconversation.com) under a Creative Commons license. If the data does end up in the hands of the Chinese government, the question is how could it use the data to its benefit. The Chinese government also has access – along with anyone else with money – to the [large market for personal data](https://theconversation.com/darknet-markets-generate-millions-in-revenue-selling-stolen-personal-data-supply-chain-study-finds-193506), which fuels [calls for stronger data privacy rules](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/20/opinion/tiktok-ban-big-tech-china.html). Their data and information could be used to gain access to other data or potentially compromise the organizations they are associated with. [most apps collect data](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/14/technology/personal-data-apple-google-facebook.html), why is the U.S. journalists](https://www.ft.com/content/a617dfba-4946-4977-a1f8-dcfb8997ef51). So a ban might limit the damage going forward to some degree, but the Chinese government has already collected a significant amount of data. TikTok and most social media apps have algorithms designed to learn a user’s interests and then try to adjust the content so the user will continue to use the app. What could the Chinese government do with data collected by the app? [has banned TikTok on work-provided phones](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/08/03/its-not-just-united-states-these-governments-see-tiktok-growing-problem/).