TikTok faces full ban in US as CEO testifies before Congress

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Chinese-based popular social media app TikTok faces a full ban in the US as its CEO Shou Chew testified Thursday before the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.

Chew was grilled by American lawmakers about many practices of the app, from potential national security risks for the US to data mining, users' mental health such as addiction, depression, and anxiety, especially among children and teenagers.

Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida, accused big tech companies of targeting and influencing their users' behavior, and urged the Congress to pass an online data privacy law.

"This is a much broader issue than TikTok in China. There are other malign actors across the world who gather data, use as element of social control and influence," she said.

"Harms to children are very serious and demand swift action. Big tech platforms profit immensely from keeping children addicted. They do not care about the privacy, safety and health of our kids. They are the modern-day tobacco and cigarette companies," she said.

TikTok has a global influence with more than 1 billion monthly active users. Together with its Chinese version Douyin, both versions of the app have over 2.5 billion daily active users in the world.

Rep. John P. Sarbanes, a Democrat from Maryland, said: "More time middle and high schoolers spend on social media ... they are to experience depression and anxiety," noting that 16% of American teenagers reported they used TikTok "almost constantly" -- around 5 million teenagers in the nation.

"We know that big tech, including TikTok, uses design features that can manipulate users including children and teens to keep them engaged, designed to feed them a never ending stream of content, to keep their attention for hours, which includes capitalizing on the desire for others' approval," he explained.

Rep. Bill Johnson, a Republican from Ohio, argued that TikTok is "attempting to mislead Americans about what their technology is capable of and who has access to their information.

Chew argued that majority of content on Tiktok is "fun, entertaining, informative and very positive for users," adding: "Other companies that operate in this country, we have to deal with some bad actors who come and publish some illegal drugs."

"The TikTok user experience should be compared to other US companies," he added, noting that his home country Singapore has "almost no" illegal drug content because it has very strict drug laws.

The British parliament announced earlier that TikTok will be blocked from all parliamentary devices and internet servers.

Several US states have already banned TikTok on government-issued devices amid alleged potential security risks.