During a U.S. Congressional hearing, a representative from TikTok last Tuesday claimed that the App it does not share information with the Chinese government. And who actually worked to safeguard US user data. For their part, the senators have expressed their concern about the platform’s algorithms, which could be harmful to young people. In short, the company has found itself in a tight spot, even after the Trump era is as good as it is past. Let’s find out why.
TikTok: App in front of the United States Congress
Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s chief of public policy for the Americas, was the first App executive to appear before Congress. On this occasion, it was mainly the Republicans who insisted on user data management by the platform. In particular, they said they were concerned about the collection of information from people, including audio and localization, and the possible sharing with the Chinese government. An accusation to which Beckerman replied clearly: “We do not share information with the Chinese government”.
Questioned by Republican Senator Ted Cruz, Beckerman said that TikTok has “no affiliation” with Beijing ByteDance Technology, the part of the company in which the Chinese government is involved. Indeed, the executive specified that the platform stores the data of US users in the United States, with backup in Singapore. And that’s not all. The TikTok App has also been “blamed” for the algorithm that quickly learns users’ preferences and information. A criticism from which the manager seems to have emerged unscathed. Almost.
Let’s not forget that just a few months ago Donald Trump tried to eliminate TikTok from US app stores, precisely because he thought the platform shared data with the Chinese government. For his part, Joe Biden has tried to reinstate the App as much as possible. Even if it seems that the problems are not over.