Facebook collects about as much data from underage users as TikTok does, and federal law enforcement agencies have almost limitless access to that data. Members of the Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee already know this — and evidently so does most of the Gen Z audience who watched those largely clueless legislators grill TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in a marathon hearing on Thursday.
When leading Republicans on the committee veered the discussion away from U.S. data privacy policies into unfounded accusations against Chew based on his Chinese heritage and incoherent fears about Chinese surveillance, the mockery from online denizens was swift and severe.
