TikTok CEO faces off with Congress over security fears
Washington (AP): The CEO of TikTok will make a high-profile appearance Thursday before a US Congressional committee, where he'll face a grilling on data security and user safety while he makes his own case for why the hugely popular video-sharing app shouldn't be banned.
Shou Zi Chew's testimony comes at a crucial time for the company, which has acquired 150 million American users but is under increasing pressure from US officials.
TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have been swept up in a wider geopolitical battle between Beijing and Washington over trade and technology.
Chew, a 40-year-old Singapore native, is making a rare public appearance to counter the volley of accusations that TikTok has been facing.
On Wednesday, the company sent dozens of popular TikTokers to Capitol Hill to lobby lawmakers to preserve the platform. It has also been putting up ads all over Washington that tout promises of securing users data and privacy and creating a safe platform for its young users.
Chew plans to tell the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce that TikTok prioritises the safety of its young users and deny allegations that the app is a national security risk, according to his prepared remarks released ahead of the hearing.
TikTok has been dogged by claims that its Chinese ownership means user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government or that it could be used to promote narratives favourable to the country's Communist leaders.
"We understand the popularity of Tiktok, we get that," said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. "But the President's job is to make sure again that the Americans, national security is protected as well. "
For its part, TikTok has been trying to distance itself from its Chinese origins, saying that 60 per cent of its parent company ByteDance is owned by global institutional investors such as Carlyle Group. ByteDance was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs in Beijing in 2012.
"Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country," Chew said.
A US ban on an app would be unprecedented and it's unclear how the government would go about enforcing it.
Experts says officials could try to force Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores, preventing new users from downloading it as well as preventing existing users from updating it, ultimately rendering it useless.
The US could also block access to TikTok's infrastructure and data, seize its domain names or force internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon to filter TikTok data traffic, said Ahmed Ghappour, a criminal law and computer security expert who teachers at Boston University School of Law.
But a tech savvy user could still get around restrictions by using a virtual private network to make it appear the user is in another country where it's not blocked, he said.
To avoid a ban, TikTok has been trying to sell officials on a USD 1.5 billion plan called Project Texas, which routes all US user data to domestic servers owned and maintained by software giant Oracle.
Under the project, access to US data is managed by US employees through a separate entity called TikTok US Data Security, which employs 1,500 people, is run independently of ByteDance and would be monitored by outside observers.
As of October, all new US user data was being stored inside the country. The company started deleting all historic US user data from non-Oracle servers this month, in a process expected to be completed later this year, Chew said.
A number of Western countries including Denmark, Canada, and New Zealand, along with the European Union, have already banned TikTok from devices issued to government employees, citing cybersecurity concerns.
In the US, the federal government, Congress, the armed forces and more than half of states have banned the app from official devices.
David Kennedy, a former government intelligence officer who runs the cybersecurity company TrustedSec, agrees with restricting TikTok access on government-issued phones because they might contain sensitive military information or other confidential material. A nationwide ban, however, might be too extreme, he said. He also wondered where it might lead.
"We have Tesla in China, we have Microsoft in China, we have Apple in China. Are they going to start banning us now?" Kennedy said. "It could escalate very quickly."
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False claims about former NDTV director Prannoy Roy’s ‘real identity’ as a Muslim resurface
Fact check by BOOM found that the CBI’s press release from 2017 does not mention Prannoy Roy’s full name, his father’s name, or his birthplace.
CLAIM: CBI has revealed secrets about Prannoy Roy, including his real name as Parvez Raja, born in Karachi, and NDTV’s full form as “Nawajud Din Taufiq Venture.
FACT CHECK: BOOM found that these claims about the CBI raid on Prannoy Roy are false and have been circulating since 2017. CBI's press note does not mention Prannoy Roy’s real name, his father’s name or his birthplace.
New Delhi: A viral social media post claims that during a 2017 CBI raid on former NDTV director and promoter Prannoy Roy, it was "revealed" that his real name was allegedly 'Parvez Raja' and that he was born in Karachi, Pakistan.
2017 CBI case against Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy
The CBI on October 1, 2024, had submitted a closure report in a Delhi court in a case alleging cheating against former NDTV promoters and directors Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy stating that there was "insufficient legally admissible evidence". The 2017 case was regarding Rs 48 crore loss suffered by ICICI Bank during a loan settlement in 2009.
Posts viral with false claims about Prannoy Roy
Posts are being shared on Facebook claiming that NDTV’s full form is actually ‘Nawajud Din Taufiq Venture’ and alleging that it is also the ‘real’ name of Prannoy Roy’s father. The posts further claim that Roy’s wife Radhika's ‘real name’ is Rahila and that the CBI found a dartboard with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s face in Roy’s bedroom.
These claims are being shared on Facebook with a photo of the couple.
Fact-Check: 2017 CBI press note about raid on Prannoy Roy does not mention details claimed in viral post
BOOM found that the claims made in the viral post about the 2017 CBI raid on Prannoy Roy are false.
What does the 2017 CBI Press note mention?
We checked CBI’s official website and found a press release from June 6, 2017, detailing the searches conducted at Roy’s residence.
However, the release did not mention any of the claims made in the viral post, such as Prannoy Roy’s real name, his father’s name, his birthplace, or the original full form of NDTV.
“Reports in sections of the media have raised certain issues and the statement issued by NDTV has leveled certain allegations against the CBI investigation in the case relating to the promoters of NDTV and others. It is clarified that searches have been carried out at the premises of the promoters and their offices based on search warrants issued by the Competent Court. CBI has not conducted any search of the registered office of NDTV, media studio, news room or premises connected with media operations. CBI fully respects the freedom of press and is committed to the free functioning of news operations,” the press note stated.
In June 2017, the CBI had raided several residences and offices connected to Prannoy and Radhika Roy. The raids were in connection with an alleged loss of around Rs. 50 crores caused to ICICI Bank by NDTV.
In 2008, ICICI Bank gave a ₹375 crore loan to the NDTV promoters, using their 61% shareholding in NDTV as collateral. It was alleged that the bank later allowed them to repay the loan at a much lower interest rate (reduced from 19% to 9.5%), as per news reports. This reduction allegedly caused a ₹48 crore loss to ICICI Bank and benefited the promoters. The CBI looked into these claims, filed as a case in 2017 based on a complaint by Sanjay Dutt of Quantum Securities Ltd.
However, in November 2024, CBI closed the case on finding no wrongdoing by ICICI officials. Their closure report concluded that it was a standard transaction and there was no violation of law or criminal conspiracy involved.
Similar false claims on Roy viral in 2017
BOOM had debunked similar false claims that were circulating on WhatsApp about Roy's religion after the CBI raid at his residence in 2017.
The WhatsApp forwards had falsely claimed that Roy, born to a Bengali Hindu father and an Irish mother, was a member of the Redemption Cathedral in New Delhi. However, the office of The Cathedral Church of the Redemption had firmly denied these claims, stating that Roy was not a member.
(This story was originally published by boom, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
