TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew made some "preposterous claims" during his appearance before Congress on Thursday, "and one was that the Chinese Communist government would not have any access to this data," Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, said on Newsmax.
"They said it would all be protected as if there was some kind of firewall," Weber said Friday during an appearance on "National Report."
"He was stonewalling us. We're not naive enough to believe that the Chinese Communist government doesn't have the will, the way, the methods to look into all of the data that TikTok has gathered on behalf of Americans."
Chew, who was grilled by lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee regarding TikTok's attempts to protect U.S. user data, stressed the company's independence from China.
"TikTok itself is not available in mainland China, we're headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we have 7,000 employees in the U.S. today," he said in his opening remarks.
"Still, we have heard important concerns about the potential for unwanted foreign access to US data and potential manipulation of the TikTok US ecosystem," Chew said. "Our approach has never been to dismiss or trivialize any of these concerns. We have addressed them with real action."
Weber said the U.S. should "do everything we can to keep Americans safe and the Chinese Communist government has already proved they will do anything they want with violating human rights, including the Uyghurs, and that's just one example. So, our response is we don't want TikTok in America."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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