TikTok’s CEO is asking America to trust him to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Let’s not.
Desperate to avoid an imminent ban of the embattled Chinese video app, TikTok CEO Shou Chew came to Washington to make the case that TikTok can be totally walled off from CCP manipulation. In the lead-up to his testimony Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Chew and the company waged a full-on influence campaign against Washington’s national security establishment, complete with implied threats, dubious promises, and of course, TikTok influencers.
Before testifying, Chew recorded a TikTok video to remind U.S. politicians that more than 150 million Americans and 5 million American businesses use the app regularly, a not-so-subtle reminder to the upwardly mobile politician that banning the app would come at a political cost.
