After the Biden administration came into office, it initially focused on negotiating the security deal that would allow TikTok to keep operating in the United States. That changed in recent weeks with the White House’s demand that TikTok’s Chinese owners sell the app. The administration also backed a new bill, sponsored by Senators Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, and John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, that would give it more power to ban TikTok.
Mr. Chew, who was appointed TikTok’s chief executive in May 2021, has in recent months embarked on a charm offensive in Washington, meeting with lawmakers, think tank leaders and journalists. This week, he tried garnering support with a video on TikTok’s official account, warning users that politicians “could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you.”
TikTok has support from free speech proponents, who warned against banning the app.
“Banning or restricting access to social media is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes, and we should be very wary about giving the U.S. government that kind of power,” Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.
Lawmakers also raised concerns about TikTok and young Americans in the hearing. The app is used by 67 percent of U.S. teenagers, according to the Pew Research Center. TikTok has faced criticism that it’s too addictive and that its algorithm can bombard teens with videos that put them in dangerous and even lethal situations.
“TikTok could be designed to minimize the harm to kids, but a decision was made to aggressively addict kids in the name of profits,” Representative Kathy Castor, Democrat of Florida, said during the hearing.
Mr. Chew said TikTok had worked to limit the repetition of videos about topics like extreme exercise and that the app’s guidelines did not allow content promoting self-harm or eating disorders. He also pointed to new 60-minute screen time limits, which parents can control, for users 12 and under, and prompts that now appear after 60 minutes for 13- to 17-year-olds.
Lawmakers weren’t assuaged. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, Democrat of Delaware, said Mr. Chew’s testimony solidified concerns over the company’s ties to China, data privacy violations and how the app treats children.
