Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) defended At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, TikTok CEO Xu Chu was questioned over whether he has ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
“Unfortunately, Singapore is one of the places in the world where the penetration and influence of the Chinese Communist Party is highest,” Cotton told Fox News’ “The Story with Martha McCallum” on Wednesday. “So Mr. Chu has a lot of answers to answer about what his app is doing in America and why.”
Mr. Chu is joined by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, X CEO Linda Yaccarino, TikTok CEO Hsu Chu, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, and Discord CEO Jason. Citron and other social media executives testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Big Tech and Corporations.” The Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis” Wednesday.
At one point during the hearing, Cotton asked Chu if he had ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
“Senator, I’m Singaporean, no,” Mr Chew said.
“Have you ever been associated with or affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party?” Cotton asked.
“No, Senator, I repeat, I am a Singaporean,” Mr Chew said.
TikTok has faced intense scrutiny from both sides over its China-based parent company ByteDance’s relationship with the Chinese government. To assuage lawmakers’ concerns about these connections, the platform developed Project Texas to cut off U.S. user data from this large company. But the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that those working on Project Texas occasionally face requests to share data with various departments within the company and with ByteDance.
Chu also came under pressure from other senators, including Republican Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, over the company’s ties to China during the hearing. Mr. Cornyn pressed Mr. Chu about the report, but the CEO disputed it, saying there were “a lot of inaccuracies in the article.”
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