TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew (pictured here in Singapore in November) has been lobbying hard since arriving in the US for his hearing. Bryan van der Beek/Bloomberg
DECRYPTION – Between forced sale or ban, the future of the application seems more threatened than ever in the United States, which has waged a technological war against China.
It has now been two weeks since Singaporean Shou Zi Chew arrived in Washington. The CEO of TikTok, who lives year-round in the city-state, arrived in the United States well ahead of a hearing that promises to be tense with the parliamentary committee responsible for trade. During the morning of Thursday, the leader will suffer the crossfire of elected Democrats and Republicans, determined to show their voters that they will not let anything happen to China.
Among the questions that are sure to be asked: is TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, subservient to Beijing? Does it pass US citizen data to the Communist Party? Is TikTok a spy tool? Does he seek to manipulate young Americans? This hearing comes at a time when the Biden Administration has asked TikTok to cut its capital ties with China, under penalty of being banned from American territory.
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More than two years after facing similar threats under Donald…
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