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Inept US politicians hoping to trash Chew Shou Zi ended up making him a hero.
US keep shooting itself in the foot.
TikTok US hearing: Chinese media, netizens slam ‘paranoid’ lawmakers as ByteDance fights app ban
Published: 9:00pm, 24 Mar, 2023
TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on privacy and content concerns around TikTok in Washington on Thursday. Photo: AFP
Chinese media, scholars and netizens criticised US politicians and expressed sympathy towards TikTok’s CEO Chew Shou Zi, who was grilled by American lawmakers on the popular app’s Chinese ties during a nearly six-hour congressional testimony in Washington on Thursday.
An article published by the Global Times, a daily tabloid affiliated with the People’s Daily, described the House hearing as a “political smearing carnival”.
“Most of the congresspeople, especially the Republicans, had no intention of having a dialogue with [Chew],” the article read. “They had already convicted him and TikTok, convinced that the app is an agent of the Chinese government.”
During the packed hearing, Chew fielded questions over the app’s danger to teenagers, data privacy and American national security.
At a routine press conference on Friday, Mao Ning, spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, said the Chinese government “never has and never will ask businesses or individuals to violate local laws to collect or provide data and intelligence in foreign countries”.
“The US government hasn’t provided any evidence to show TikTok threatening US national security,” she said.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswomen Mao Ning gestures during a press conference on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE
The hearing was “very damaging to the reputation of the United States as a positive business environment” and “set a very bad precedent for domestic competition in the US”,
said Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economics Cooperation, a think tank under the commerce ministry.
“If the US really wants to rob the technology of TikTok, it’s impossible for China to say yes,” he said. “Most likely, TikTok will have to quit the US market, but US users may also use VPN to access it.”
Hours ahead of the hearing, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said it would oppose any demand by the Biden administration for the TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell the app or face a ban in America.
“Ignoring the products and services themselves, forcing the sale of TikTok only due to the identity of foreign investors, will seriously damage the confidence of investors from all over the world, including China, to invest in the United States,” a spokeswoman said.
Republican Representative
Buddy Carter questions TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Photo: Getty Images
TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
A forced sale by the US government would put TikTok in a similar situation it faced two years ago, when then-US President Donald Trump ordered the app’s Beijing-based owner ByteDance to divest the American operations of the short video app.
Chinese authorities responded by adding to its list of banned and restricted technology exports “personalised information recommendation service technology based on data analysis” and “artificial intelligence interactive interfaces”. The move effectively bars ByteDance from selling TikTok and its recommendation algorithms to foreign buyers.
After Trump exited the White House in January 2021, ByteDance walked away from a plan to sell the app to a group led by US computer software maker Oracle.
Demonstrators in Washington call for the banning of TikTok in the US. Photo: AP Photo
The concerns over TikTok stem from the speed at which the app has grown and penetrated societies, according to Abishur Prakash, co-founder and geopolitical futurist at the Centre for Innovating the Future, an advisory firm based in Toronto.
“The ‘beating heart’ of the TikTok saga is what the app represents: the rise of Chinese ecosystems
that are challenging the US” Prakash wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “By trying to eject TikTok, the West is further erecting barriers against Chinese tech – and China itself … And, to control TikTok, the US is actually copying China’s playbook.”
“The company’s goodwill efforts have done little to assuage US concerns,” said Lizzi Lee, honorary junior fellow on Chinese Economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. “This situation underscores the hurdles firms with Chinese ties encounter when steering through the choppy waters of international politics and government relations.”
Republican Representative Kat Cammack questions TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo: AP Photo
On Chinese social media, many netizens denounced the TikTok hearing.
The US lawmakers did not listen and “had only politics and persecution in mind” when throwing questions at the TikTok CEO, wrote Li Xiang, founder of Shijieguan News, on Weibo. He found some of the queries “emotional”, “paranoid” and “worthless”.
The hearing “won’t make any substantial difference” on the bipartisan scepticism over TikTok, Weibo user Chouxiaoya commented, calling the session a “political performance”.
This was just “some American loser politicians trying to bully a Chinese company”, Weibo user Miko San concluded.
US keep shooting itself in the foot.
TikTok US hearing: Chinese media, netizens slam ‘paranoid’ lawmakers as ByteDance fights app ban
- Chinese netizens have rushed to denounce US lawmakers, who pressed TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi over the app’s Chinese ties in a lengthy testimony
- One Weibo user called the hearing a ‘political performance’, while the Global Times characterised it as ‘a political smearing carnival’
Published: 9:00pm, 24 Mar, 2023
TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on privacy and content concerns around TikTok in Washington on Thursday. Photo: AFP
Chinese media, scholars and netizens criticised US politicians and expressed sympathy towards TikTok’s CEO Chew Shou Zi, who was grilled by American lawmakers on the popular app’s Chinese ties during a nearly six-hour congressional testimony in Washington on Thursday.
An article published by the Global Times, a daily tabloid affiliated with the People’s Daily, described the House hearing as a “political smearing carnival”.
“Most of the congresspeople, especially the Republicans, had no intention of having a dialogue with [Chew],” the article read. “They had already convicted him and TikTok, convinced that the app is an agent of the Chinese government.”
During the packed hearing, Chew fielded questions over the app’s danger to teenagers, data privacy and American national security.
At a routine press conference on Friday, Mao Ning, spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, said the Chinese government “never has and never will ask businesses or individuals to violate local laws to collect or provide data and intelligence in foreign countries”.
“The US government hasn’t provided any evidence to show TikTok threatening US national security,” she said.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswomen Mao Ning gestures during a press conference on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE
The hearing was “very damaging to the reputation of the United States as a positive business environment” and “set a very bad precedent for domestic competition in the US”,
said Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economics Cooperation, a think tank under the commerce ministry.“If the US really wants to rob the technology of TikTok, it’s impossible for China to say yes,” he said. “Most likely, TikTok will have to quit the US market, but US users may also use VPN to access it.”
Hours ahead of the hearing, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said it would oppose any demand by the Biden administration for the TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell the app or face a ban in America.
“Ignoring the products and services themselves, forcing the sale of TikTok only due to the identity of foreign investors, will seriously damage the confidence of investors from all over the world, including China, to invest in the United States,” a spokeswoman said.
Republican Representative
Buddy Carter questions TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Photo: Getty ImagesTikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
A forced sale by the US government would put TikTok in a similar situation it faced two years ago, when then-US President Donald Trump ordered the app’s Beijing-based owner ByteDance to divest the American operations of the short video app.
Chinese authorities responded by adding to its list of banned and restricted technology exports “personalised information recommendation service technology based on data analysis” and “artificial intelligence interactive interfaces”. The move effectively bars ByteDance from selling TikTok and its recommendation algorithms to foreign buyers.
After Trump exited the White House in January 2021, ByteDance walked away from a plan to sell the app to a group led by US computer software maker Oracle.
Demonstrators in Washington call for the banning of TikTok in the US. Photo: AP Photo
The concerns over TikTok stem from the speed at which the app has grown and penetrated societies, according to Abishur Prakash, co-founder and geopolitical futurist at the Centre for Innovating the Future, an advisory firm based in Toronto.
“The ‘beating heart’ of the TikTok saga is what the app represents: the rise of Chinese ecosystems
that are challenging the US” Prakash wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “By trying to eject TikTok, the West is further erecting barriers against Chinese tech – and China itself … And, to control TikTok, the US is actually copying China’s playbook.”“The company’s goodwill efforts have done little to assuage US concerns,” said Lizzi Lee, honorary junior fellow on Chinese Economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. “This situation underscores the hurdles firms with Chinese ties encounter when steering through the choppy waters of international politics and government relations.”
Republican Representative
Kat Cammack questions TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo: AP PhotoOn Chinese social media, many netizens denounced the TikTok hearing. The US lawmakers did not listen and “had only politics and persecution in mind” when throwing questions at the TikTok CEO, wrote Li Xiang, founder of Shijieguan News, on Weibo. He found some of the queries “emotional”, “paranoid” and “worthless”.
The hearing “won’t make any substantial difference” on the bipartisan scepticism over TikTok, Weibo user Chouxiaoya commented, calling the session a “political performance”.
This was just “some
American loser politicians trying to bully a Chinese company”, Weibo user Miko San concluded.
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