There’s cause for alarm with TikTok — but is it enough to justify building America’s own Great Firewall?
An AI chatbot chat-off.
We’ve been in recess, but we’re back with a series of questions about why TikTok hasn’t removed more content about drugs, including people selling drugs and a Wall Street Journal article about adult content showing up in children’s feeds. Chew’s line is that no company can moderate perfectly — but it’s not going over well.
Rep. Darren Soto asks whether TikTok would consider spinning off from ByteDance, and Chew makes a jab it’s taken a surprising amount of time for him to reach. “I don’t think ownership is the issue here,” he says. “With a lot of respect, American social companies don’t have a good track record with data privacy and user security. Just look at Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, for one example.”
Neal Dunn (who has just compared TikTok to fentanyl and cancer) enters a 2022 Forbes article about TikTok surveillance into the record — casting doubt on Chew’s claims that it’s not a spying risk.
Rep. McMorris-Rodgers has reminded me that we’re almost halfway through this hearing, and I’m dying. Here’s a picture of my cat Kaiser. Kaiser cannot understand English. Kaiser cannot listen to this hearing. Kaiser is so lucky.
Rep. Bill Johnson is grilling Chew on TikTok security, including TikTok citing a report from CitizenLab on its code’s security. CitizenLab’s director has said he’s “disappointed” that TikTok is — in his opinion — misconstruing the report as a claim that the Chinese government couldn’t get access to it.
It’s a threat to shoot members of the congressional committee investigating TikTok. Rep. Kat Cammack says that because somebody was able to post the video on TikTok, TikTok can’t possibly be keeping private user data secure. I agree it’s bad TikTok didn’t take down the video, but... this is not a very logical argument.
Rep. Diana DeGatte asks Chew what TikTok can do to limit medical misinformation, including viral claims about herbs that can induce abortion. To its credit, the House did in fact try to take the step that would really guarantee safe abortion: legalize it nationwide.
Bob Latta mentions a case of Section 230 protecting TikTok from liability after a child died participating in a challenge trend. Section 230 has come up a couple times in the hearing — which isn’t surprising, since it’s a perpetual congressional punching bag.
