TikTok CEO gives first public interview since congressional hearing

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew doubled down on the platform’s commitment to user safety and data security at the TED2023 conference on Thursday.

Interviewed by TED head Chris Anderson during an event in Vancouver, British Columbia, Chu addressed concerns raised by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, particularly China’s concerns over child safety, data security, and apps. impact.

The Biden administration has threatened to ban a popular video app in the US over security concerns about its Chinese owner. Critics have argued that TikTok is a national security threat given its ability to collect data about its users, with some pointing out that much of her user base is in her teens and young adults. .

Last week, the Montana legislature passed a bill blocking new TikTok downloads in the state. This is the most significant action ever taken by the state against the app.

The Q&A, Chu’s first public interview since addressing lawmakers, was the latest part of his glamorous and aggressive effort in calling for a Congressional crackdown on TikTok.

Asked if TikTok could directly say it would not allow the Chinese government to interfere in the US election, Anderson said, “We have built all the tools to prevent these actions from happening. I’m here.

“And we are confident that the unprecedented amount of transparency we offer on our platform will allow us to take this risk as close to zero as possible,” he added.

Chew said the company is doing “very well” with Project Texas. Project Texas is the company’s plan to partner with Texas-based cloud company Oracle to store US data on US soil.

“Now, by default, all new US data is already stored in our Oracle Cloud infrastructure,” says Chew. “So what we talked about in the US is this protected US environment. We still have some legacy data on our own servers in Virginia and Singapore that we want to remove.”

He said removing legacy data is a “huge technical effort” but should be completed by the end of the year.

Anderson also questioned Chu about TikTok’s ability to protect children. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that TikTok’s algorithm is encouraging vulnerable children to commit suicide.

Chew doesn’t address the app’s impact on teen mental health, but reiterates restrictions on underage users and community guidelines to prevent harmful content.

We also touched on age verification. In addition to requiring users to share their age when signing up, TikTok has a tool that scans people’s public profiles and “attempts to match the age you said to the video you just posted.” says Chew.