Posted on 03/29/2023 4:32:44 AM PDT by FarCenter
US lawmakers are expected this week to continue their push to ban the country’s fastest-growing social media platform, TikTok, after the company’s CEO fell short of assuaging concerns about the app’s supposed national security risks.
Shou Zi Chew’s testimony in Washington last week may have failed to convince critics that Chinese ownership of TikTok was not cause for alarm. But instead of raising public awareness of alleged security risks, lawmakers turned the spotlight on their limited understanding of the subject while turning Chew into an overnight celebrity for his poise under pressure.
Susan Shirk, chair of the University of California San Diego’s 21st Century China Center, commented on the optics of the hearing.
“The rudeness of the congresspeople was an embarrassment to American society and political system. It certainly reinforced the growing anti-Americanism in China,” she wrote in an email to Asia Times.
That sentiment was supported by coverage from What’s on Weibo, a website that follows trends across Chinese social media platforms.
“Mostly, people admire how he stood up against Congress despite being ‘bullied’ by American officials and ‘defended’ China’s interests although he is Singaporean himself. Some called him a ‘solitary hero,’” wrote Manya Koetse, the website’s founder.
“Chew himself has become super popular on Chinese social media […] where he has become idolized by some (‘I won’t even compare you with the stars, you’re much better than the stars.’),” she noted.
Surveillance Capitalism
It also appears the publicity failed to sell the proposed ban to the 150 million Tiktok users in the United States.
In one highlight from the hearing, shared widely on TikTok and Twitter, Chew questioned the security of other firms.
“I don’t think the ownership is the issue here. With a lot of respect, American social companies do not have a good track record when it comes to data security and privacy, just look at Facebook and Cambridge Analytica – and that’s just one example.”
Justin Hendrix, CEO of Tech Policy Press, elaborated on Chew’s point in an editorial posted over the weekend.
“Indeed. TikTok is not a product of Chinese communism, it is a product of American surveillance capitalism. If Congress wants to address the app’s underlying harms, it should ban surveillance advertising, not TikTok.”
Commentary online also took lawmakers to task for being uninformed about technology, a criticism that has followed previous hearings to question tech executives.
Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) took the brunt of that ridicule, after asking, “does TikTok access the home WiFi network?”
IIRC-—Ted Bundy was considered quite handsome & charming also.
Did not know that.... interesting.
Actually it’s a rare respect for the 1st. Congress has no standing to ban a voluntary application. And there’s all kinds of poison pills in their ban bill. And the guy is right, every social media platform scrapes and sells data. To an often disturbing degree (mention a type of product near your phone, then count the seconds before ads for those show up in your social media). That’s what Congress should be focusing on. Not the Chinese app.
From the same chicoms who bribe Brandon?
It’s hard to imagine Congress offending the TikTok demographic.
TikTok Statistics – Updated Mar 2023
https://wallaroomedia.com/blog/social-media/tiktok-statistics/
U.S. Audience – As we mentioned, we estimate that TikTok has about 80 million monthly active users in the United States. 60% are female, 40% are male. 60% are between the ages of 16-24. 26% are between the ages 25-44. 80% are between the ages 16-34. This data comes straight from TikTok.
BTTT.
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