Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., scheduled a news conference Wednesday afternoon with “dozens of TikTok creators, artists, small business owners, educators, parents and advocates from across America” to oppose the TikTok ban. The notice from Bowman’s office said the creators, who use “TikTok to inspire creativity, bring joy, and support their livelihoods,” have more than 60 million total followers.
The TikTok exception
Chew is the latest in a long line of tech company CEOs who have appeared before Congress to be grilled. But dozens of such hearings have so far not advanced technology legislation addressing data privacy, algorithms that promote harmful content, content moderation policies, and the role of social media in enabling foreign influence operations aimed at Americans.
But TikTok has been an exception. Republicans’ and Democrats’ willingness to offer legislation is a measure of the U.S. concern about China and TikTok.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in July 2020 prohibiting TikTok from the U.S. market along with WeChat, another popular Chinese-owned messaging app, because the apps “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” Trump approved a deal a few months later that created a separate U.S. entity called TikTok Global in which software maker Oracle Corp. and retailer Walmart Inc. would own 20 percent of the equity.
That deal also required TikTok to submit a proposal to the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, on how it would collect Americans’ data, where it would be housed, and what its security protocols were. The company says it hasn’t heard from CFIUS since it submitted the proposal in summer 2022.
