TikTok CEO: ‘Spying’ Not Right Word for Surveillance of Americans for China

TikTok CEO: ‘Spying’ Not Right Word for Surveillance of Americans for China

BREITBART

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday that “spying” is not the right word for alleged Chinese surveillance of Americans using his company’s social media platform.

Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL) asked Chew if TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has spied on American citizens.

“I don’t think that ‘spying’ is the right way to describe it,” Chew said.

Here’s the clip: pic.twitter.com/IYZcT52r2C

— D. Cohen (@tallRevere) March 23, 2023

Dunn asked about a report that the FBI and Justice Department are investigating ByteDance after the company acknowledged firing four employees for using the controversial app to track the location of two journalists in the United States.

Breitbart News’s Lucas Nolan reported last week:

After ByteDance admitted that its employees had improperly accessed the data of U.S. users, congressional critics began to express concerns about TikTok’s surveillance practices. Forbes reports that the DOJ has served subpoenas to ByteDance. However, it’s still unclear how far the investigation into the incident has gone. The FBI has also interviewed people in connection with the matter, though it is not yet clear if these interviews are a part of the same investigation.

In a statement, a ByteDance spokesperson addressed the issue, stating, “We have strongly condemned the actions of the individuals found to have been involved, and they are no longer employed at ByteDance.” The spokesperson also confirmed that the company’s internal investigation is ongoing, and ByteDance is committed to cooperating with any official investigations when brought to them.

Concerns over the national security and privacy implications of TikTok have reached a fever pitch in Washington, DC….

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Mid-hearing, Sen. Tillis calls on members of Congress to stop using TikTok. (Pretty wild that some are even still using it.) pic.twitter.com/ziATfrMqkc

— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) March 23, 2023

Continue reading…

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Header featured image (edited) credit: Chew/Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images – Background flag/phone/Image: Jakub Porzycki/ NurPhoto /picture alliance

Emphasis added by (TLB) editors

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