TikTok's chief executive appealed directly to US users to stop a bill that could lead to the social media app being banned in America.
Shou zi Chew addressed the public through a video posted on the app. "Keep sharing your stories, share with your friends, share with your family, share with your Senators," he said.
"LEAVE OR GET BANNED"
Users have been campaigning to stop the bill since its announcement, but on Wednesday members of the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor. The vote now goes to the Senate. Joe Biden has already indicated he will support the measures.
If the bill is passed, TikTok will have to be separated from its Chinese parent company ByteDance within six months or be banned in the US.
'SENATOR, I'M FROM SINGAPORE'
While he did not confirm that TikTok would refuse to leave ByteDance, Chew told users that the bill "will lead to TikTok being banned in the United States."
"Even the bill's sponsors admit that this is their goal," he said.
In 2020, then-President Trump tried to ban TikTok unless it was acquired by an American company.
He claimed that the Chinese government was using TikTok to spy on millions of Americans. Although the ban never went into effect, the debate continued.
300 THOUSAND PEOPLE COULD LOSE THEIR JOBS
TikTok, the China-based social media application, has been on the agenda in recent months with banning discussions in many countries around the world, especially in the US. This issue, which the US side recently brought to the parliament, caused TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to explain what would happen in case the application is banned.
With the bill on TikTok voted by the US House of Representatives, the application will be forced to be sold to a US-based company or banned completely.
In his video statement on the subject, Chew claimed that if TikTok is banned, 300 thousand US citizens will face the risk of losing their jobs.
BYTEDANCE CONFESSED
In 2022, ByteDance confirmed that Western journalists were using TikTok to track their physical location via IP addresses.
In 2023, US government employees were banned from using the app on work devices. But Chew said in his video appeal: "Over the last few years, we have invested in keeping your data safe and our platform free from outside manipulation."
He was grilled by US senators and repeatedly asked in February whether he had ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
He finally replied, "Senator, I'm from Singapore, no." TikTok's parent company ByteDance was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, but the company says 60% of its shares are owned by non-Chinese investors.
