At a Thursday House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, Shou Zi Chew CEO of TikTok was featured. Kat Cammack, a Republican from Florida, highlighted a video that the platform displayed and described it as a “direct threat to” the members.
The video was removed shortly thereafter.
The video featured an animation of a handgun being fired. It also contained a message reading, “Me asf @ the House Energy and Commerce Committee 03/23/2023”. A hashtag was included with the name and title of the chairman of the committee, Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
“You could not take any action after 41 days of a clear threat, a very serious threat… was posted to your platform. Cammack stated that it was impossible to protect the security and data of this committee, or 150 million users of your application because it is an extension of the CCP.
Later, Chew informed Tony Cardenas (Democratic Rep. California) that the content was removed.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew claims TikTok “proactively removes” all “harmful content.”
Clearly, that is FALSE.
WATCH this TikTok inciting violence against the @HouseCommerce Committee hearing today.
It’s been up since February 10th, 2023. pic.twitter.com/nO2CMOSm11
— Energy and Commerce Committee (@HouseCommerce) March 23, 2023
Chew did not respond to Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko’s repeated questions about his belief that the Chinese government had persecuted Uyghurs at another point during the hearing.
Chew was accused by the congresswoman of being evasive on “easy questions.”
Chew did not respond directly to the question. He described it as “concerning” to hear about all accounts of abuse of human rights. However, he stated that he attended the hearing to discuss TikTok and that the platform allows users the ability to voice their opinions on any topic.
Rodgers, the chair of the committee, demanded that the social media platform be banned during her opening remarks. She declared, “Your platform should not be allowed.”
