DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

WASHINGTON (AP) — If some U.S. lawmakers have their way, the United States and China could end up with something in common: TikTok might not be available in either country. But while U.S. lawmakers associate TikTok with China, the company, headquartered outside China, has strategically kept its distance from its homeland. Since its inception, the TikTok platform has been intended for non-Chinese markets and is unavailable in mainland China. Some have insisted they be called “global companies” instead of “Chinese companies.”But for TikTok, this may not be enough. “America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States.

Persons: TikTok, Joe Biden, Zhiqun Zhu, ” Zhu, Alex Capri, Hinrich, ” Capri, Capri, Zhang Yiming, Mike Gallagher, ”, Gallagher, “, Sen, Tom Cotton, Shou Zi Chew, beholden, Chew, Nancy Pelosi, ” Chew, Thomas Zhang, Zhang, It's, Donald Trump, Trump Organizations: WASHINGTON, Bucknell University, “, National University of Singapore, Hinrich Foundation, Chinese Communist Party, CCP, Communist, Wired, Republicans Locations: United States, China, Beijing, Hong Kong, U.S, Washington, there's, Chinese, Chew

☆ TikTok is getting a new head of global trust and safety
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —TikTok’s global trust and safety unit is getting a new leader, the company confirmed on Tuesday. Following Keenan’s move, TikTok’s global trust and safety unit will now fall under the leadership of Adam Presser, the company’s Los Angeles-based head of operations. However, TikTok’s trust and safety staff will otherwise remain in place as-is, according to the company. The leadership changes come as TikTok continues to face scrutiny in the United States, Europe and elsewhere over the safety and security of its platform. TikTok plans to invest $2 billion in trust and safety efforts in 2024, Chew said during the hearing.

Persons: Cormac Keenan, Shou Chew, Keenan, Adam Presser, Cormac, ” Chew, Chew, Theo Bertram, Rich Waterworth Organizations: New, New York CNN, CNN Locations: New York, Dublin, Ireland, Los Angeles, Europe, Middle East, Africa, United States

SINGAPORE (AP) — After a U.S. senator grilled Singaporean TikTok CEO about his nationality and affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party, Singaporeans are complaining about ignorant — or even racist — views of their country. During the hearing, Chew was repeatedly questioned about his nationality and possible affiliations to the Chinese Communist Party by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. Chinese companies are required to set up Communist Party cells. “No Senator, again, I’m Singaporean,” Chew responded, visibly perplexed. Prior to joining TikTok, Chew worked for five years at Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone company.

Persons: Shou Chew, Chew, Chinese Communist Party by Sen, Tom Cotton, ” Cotton, Cotton, “, ” Chew, “ McCarthy, Jojo Choo, ”, ” Choo, Fian Fazlie, “ He’s, ” Fazlie, Biden, Vivian Kao, Goldman Sachs Organizations: SINGAPORE, Chinese Communist Party, Chinese Communist Party by, Communist Party, Washington Post, Singapore, Straits Times, Fox News, U.S, “, DST Global Locations: America ., Singapore, China, Chinese, “ Singapore, TikTok, Xiaomi

Hong Kong CNN —China’s Communist Party had “supreme access” to all data held by TikTok’s parent company Bytedance, including on servers in the United States, a former employer who is bringing a wrongful termination lawsuit has alleged. Yintao “Roger” Yu filed a lawsuit of wrongful termination against Bytedance in Superior Court in San Francisco earlier this month. Yu’s lawsuit alleges that the company made user data accessible to China’s Communist Party via a backdoor channel, no matter where the data was located. Yu worked for ByteDance Inc. for less than a year and his employment ended in July 2018,” which Yu disputed in his complaint. So the risk would be similar to any government going to an American company, asking for data,” Chew said at the hearing.

☆ Everyone in Washington is talking about a TikTok ban. But is it really a national security threat?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

However, more than two years after the Trump administration first issued a similar threat to TikTok, evidence remains unclear about whether the app is a national security threat. “Regarding privacy, we also did not see the TikTok app exhibiting any behaviors similar to malware.”TikTok has cited Lin’s research as part of its defense. He also repeatedly noted that TikTok does not collect more user data than most of its peers in the industry. TikTok later confirmed the incident and ByteDance fired several employees who had improperly accessed the TikTok data of two journalists. “And governments around the world are ignoring their duty to protect citizens’ private information, allowing big tech companies to exploit user information for gain.

☆ TikTok hearing: CEO Shou Chew to testify before Congress for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

TikTok CEO Shou Chew will face the House Energy and Commerce Committee during his first appearance before Congress, in a hearing that kicks off at 10 a.m. In his prepared remarks, Chew is expected to issue broad promises to protect US user data, to keep teens safe and to remain free from any government influence. As scrutiny from lawmakers’ mounts, however, so does the app’s popularity and reach in the United States. TikTok was the top downloaded app in the United States in 2021 and 2022, according to data from analytics firm Sensor Tower. In the months leading up to his appearance on Capitol Hill, Chew, who rarely gave interviews previously, has gone on a media tour in the United States.

☆ TikTok CEO to tell lawmakers its parent company is ‘not an agent of China’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —TikTok CEO Shou Chew plans to tell US lawmakers that the app’s parent company, ByteDance, does not work for the Chinese government as he seeks to avert a US ban and reassure policymakers TikTok poses no national security threat. “Let me state this unequivocally,” Chew will say, according to a copy of his remarks released by a key House panel. New TikTok data created by US users is already being stored on cloud-based servers operated by the US tech giant Oracle, a change that took effect last month, according to the testimony. USDS already has nearly 1,500 full-time employees and the company plans to hire more. Chew plans to describe the incident as a “misguided attempt to trace the source of a leak of confidential TikTok information.” TikTok informed the Energy and Commerce Committee about the spying “within moments of informing our employees,” Chew will add.

☆ How TikTok’s CEO prepared for his first grilling on Capitol Hill
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Shou Zi Chew is getting ready for his inaugural trip to Congress. In prep sessions, which have taken place in Washington, D.C. ahead of the high-stakes hearing, TikTok personnel have worked to sharpen and polish Chew’s presentation. The Biden administration demanded earlier this month that the company’s Chinese owners divest from the company or be exiled from the country. The app has raised bipartisan national security concerns and growing worries that its sophisticated algorithm poses a danger to young people. “Americans deserve to know the extent to which their privacy is jeopardized and their data is manipulated by ByteDance-owned TikTok’s relationship with China,” McMorris Rodgers said.

☆ TikTok and its CEO are fighting to save the app in the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

In his talk, Chew, the CEO of TikTok, said the social network would not provide US user data to the Chinese government and has never been asked to do so. Chew stressed the steps TikTok has taken to protect US user data. The Harvard event is just one of several media appearances Chew has made in recent weeks amid mounting scrutiny of TikTok and of himself. “It’s life or death for TikTok, from their perspective,” said Justin Sherman, the CEO of Global Cyber Strategies, D.C.-based research and advisory firm, who was among the researchers TikTok invited to be briefed on “Project Texas,” the company’s $1.5 billion initiative to address lawmakers’ security concerns. But for some lawmakers with security concerns, the latest push “may be too little too late.”In his TikTok video on Tuesday, Chew appealed directly to users of the app.

☆ TikTok says it has 150 million US users amid renewed calls for a ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —TikTok now has 150 million monthly active users in the United States, CEO Shou Chew confirmed on Tuesday, in a clear attempt to highlight the platform’s vast and growing reach in the country amid renewed calls for a ban. “That’s almost half the US coming to TikTok to connect, to create, to share, to learn, or just to have some fun,” Chew said in a TikTok video on Tuesday. The figure also includes about five million businesses that use TikTok to reach customers, Chew said. TikTok acknowledged to CNN last week week that federal officials are demanding the app’s Chinese owners sell their stake in the social media platform, or risk facing a US ban of the app. In 2020, when the Trump administration made a similar threat, TikTok said it had 100 million US users.

CNN —Nearly two-and-a-half years after the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok in the United States if it didn’t divest from its Chinese owners, the Biden administration is now doing the same. The new directive comes from the multiagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), following years of negotiations between TikTok and the government body. “If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem,” TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said in a statement. TikTok is really only a national security risk insofar as the Chinese government may have leverage over TikTok or its parent company. China has national security laws that require companies under its jurisdiction to cooperate with a broad range of security activities.

☆ Who is Shou Zi Chew? Mounting scrutiny on TikTok could put new spotlight on its CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Months later, when TikTok was grilled by Congress over privacy and security concerns, Pappas was the TikTok executive in the hot seat fielding questions. But Chew, who took over as TikTok CEO in April 2021, has largely stayed out of the spotlight at a time when the app he leads can’t seem to avoid it. He eventually went on to become the CFO of Chinese tech giant Xiaomi, which he helped take public in 2018. While Chew is not a Chinese national, Quint noted Chinese tech companies and leaders that have drawn too much attention to themselves have faced tough government crackdowns. Ultimately, Quint said, “I don’t think the CEO of TikTok has much relevance at all” for US lawmakers scrutinizing its ties to China.

☆ As Meta and Twitter slash staff, TikTok plans to keep hiring
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —While much of Silicon Valley is grappling with hiring freezes and job cuts, at least one social media company is still planning to keep hiring: TikTok. News of TikTok’s hiring plans was first reported by The Information. The shift in the hiring landscape in Silicon Valley could help TikTok as it looks to appease critics and cement its position in the United States, and also as it works to expand into new product categories. TikTok’s career portal website currently lists more than 4,000 global positions, though it is not clear how often the hiring site is updated. “We are still hiring,” Chew said at the conference last week, “although, you know, at a pace that we think has corresponds with the global challenges that we’re facing.”

Search resuls for: "” Chew"

13 mentions found