<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"641b51bc8f0889459a7603d5","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Good morning and welcome to our liveblog of today’s interrogation of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew by US Congress members. ","elementId":"0b39dd93-4424-4cd5-a9ea-3e319760b521"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The panel, convened by the House committee on energy and commerce, will begin at 10am ET and is titled TikTok: How Congress Can Safeguard American Data Privacy And Protect Children From Online Harms. ","elementId":"54f95e96-71ea-4e3f-922f-f77802df7f26"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" This marks the first appearance from a TikTok chief executive before US lawmakers. It comes as the political storm surrounding the China-owned social media platform intensifies, with the Biden administration threatening…
Tag: US politics
TikTok’s CEO eluded the spotlight. Now, a looming ban means he can’t avoid it
Shou Zi Chew is not a prolific TikToker. The 40-year-old CEO of the Chinese-owned app has just 23 posts and 17,000 followers to his name – paltry by his own platform’s standards. Chew’s profile sees him attending football games, visiting Paris and London, trying Nashville hot chicken, or boating on a lake, often with generic captions. (“Love the outdoors!”). Users have noticed: “Bro the TikTok ceo with 41 likes,” one person commented on his video of the outdoors. “Shout out to this small creator,” another wrote. Suffice to say, Chew…
Taiwan president heads to Latin America after partners switch ties to China
Taiwan’s president will visit diplomatic allies Guatemala and Belize next week while also making stopovers in the United States, as it aims to shore up ties in Latin America. Tsai Ing-wen will depart Taiwan on 29 March for the 10-day trip, stopping in New York and Los Angeles while en route to and from the Central American countries, the island’s ministry said on Tuesday. Belize and Guatemala are two of just 14 countries that officially recognise Taiwan over China, and Tsai’s trip comes after Honduras said earlier this month that…
The TikTok wars – why the US and China are feuding over the app
TikTok is once again fending off claims that its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, would share user data from its popular video-sharing app with the Chinese government, or push propaganda and misinformation on its behalf. China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday accused the US itself of spreading disinformation about TikTok’s potential security risks following a report in the Wall Street Journal that the committee on foreign investment in the US – part of the treasury department – was threatening a US ban on the app unless its Chinese owners divest their stake.…
Will UK follow US in demanding TikTok be sold by its Chinese owner?
When asked this week whether the UK would ban TikTok on government phones, Rishi Sunak’s response signalled a change in stance: “We look at what our allies are doing.” Previously ministers had seemed sanguine, even saying that whether or not the app stayed on someone’s phone should be a matter of “personal choice”. Not any more. The UK’s allies are turning against TikTok and it was when Sunak said he was watching their actions closely that a government ban became inevitable. The US, Canada and the EU’s executive arm have…
Chinese business tycoon and Bannon ally Ho Wan Kwok arrested in $1bn fraud conspiracy
Ho Wan Kwok, a self-exiled Chinese tycoon with close links to prominent Trumpist Republicans including Steve Bannon, has been indicted on 12 counts relating to an alleged $1bn fraud. The charges announced by the US attorney for the southern district of New York on Wednesday include wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud and money laundering. Kin Ming Je, a Hong Kong and UK dual citizen also known as William Je and described as Kwok’s financier, was also named in the charges and faced a further count of obstruction of justice.…
White House backs bill that could give it power to ban TikTok nationwide
The White House said it backed legislation introduced on Tuesday by a dozen senators to give the administration new powers to ban Chinese-owned video app TikTok and other foreign-based technologies if they pose national security threats. The endorsement boosts efforts by a number of lawmakers to ban the popular ByteDance-owned app, which is used by more than 100 million Americans. The bill gives the commerce department the authority to impose restrictions up to and including banning TikTok and other technologies that pose national security risks, said Democratic Senator Mark Warner,…
House committee advances legislation to ban TikTok over security concerns
A powerful US House committee has applied further pressure to TikTok by backing legislation that could give Joe Biden the power to ban the social video app. The House foreign affairs committee voted on Wednesday along party lines to grant the administration new powers to ban the Chinese-owned app as well as other apps believed to pose security risks. The fate of the measure is still uncertain and it would need to be passed by the full House and Senate before it can go to Biden. The Republican committee chair,…
‘Time is not on our side’: Congress panel says tackling China defines next century
The US Congress must act urgently to counter the economic and national security threats posed by the Chinese government, a bipartisan chorus of lawmakers on a newly created special House committee has warned during an inaugural, primetime hearing. The two superpowers were locked in an “existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century”, the committee’s Republican chairman, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, said as the rivalry between the US and China deepens. With democracy advocates and protesters in attendance, the panel – formally the House Select Committee…
New US House Committee to Focus on Strategic Competition With China
U.S. lawmakers this week are launching a two-year effort to address strategic competition between the United States and China, with a prime-time hearing set for Tuesday that will include testimony from human rights activists and members of former President Donald Trump’s national security team. Representative Mike Gallagher, who will chair the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition with China, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” earlier this week, “We may call this a strategic competition, but it’s not a tennis match. This is about what type of world we want to…