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Skeptical US lawmakers grill TikTok CEO over safety, content
U.S. lawmakers grilled the CEO of TikTok over data security and harmful content Thursday, responding skeptically during a tense committee hearing to his assurances that the hugely popular video-sharing app prioritizes user safety and should not be banned.
Shou Zi Chew’s rare public appearance came at a crucial time for the company, which has 150 million American users but is under increasing pressure from U.S. officials. TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, have been swept up in a wider geopolitical battle between Beijing and Washington over trade and technology.
In a bipartisan effort to reign in the power of a major social media platform, Republican and Democratic lawmakers pressed Chew on a host of topics, ranging from TikTok’s content moderation practices, how the company plans to secure American data from Beijing, and its spying on journalists.
“Mr. Chew, you are here because the American people need the truth about the threat TikTok poses to our national and personal security,” Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, said in her opening statement.
Chew, a 40-year-old Singapore native, told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that TikTok prioritizes the safety of its young users and denied it’s a national security risk. He reiterated the company’s plan to protect U.S. user data by storing it on servers maintained and owned by the software giant Oracle.
“Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew said.
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 favorable to the country’s Communist leaders.
In 2019, the Guardian reported that TikTok was instructing its moderators to censor videos that mention Tiananmen Square and images unfavorable to the Chinese government. The platform says it has since changed its moderation practices.
ByteDance admitted in December that it fired four employees last summer who accessed data on two journalists and people connected to them while attempting to uncover the source of a leaked report about the company.
For its part, TikTok has been trying to distance itself from its Chinese origins, saying 60% percent of ByteDance is owned by global institutional investors such as Carlyle Group. Responding to a Wall Street Journal report, China said it would oppose any U.S. attempts to force ByteDance to sell the app.
Chew pushed back against the idea that TikTok’s ownership was an issue.
“Trust is about actions we take,” Chew said. “Ownership is not at the core of addressing these concerns.”
In one of the most dramatic moments, Republican Rep. Kat Cammack played a TikTok video that showed a shooting gun with a caption that included the House committee holding the hearing, with the exact date before it was formally announced.
“You expect us to believe that you are capable of maintaining the data security, privacy and security of 150 million Americans where you can’t even protect the people in this room,” Cammack said.
TikTok spokesperson Ben Rathe said the company on Thursday removed the violent video aimed at the committee and banned the account that posted it.
As the Energy and Commerce committee questioned Chew, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was questioned about the threat TikTok poses at a separate but simultaneous committee hearing. Asked by Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican of Colorado, if the platform is a security threat to the United States, Blinken said: “I believe it is.”
“Shouldn’t a threat to United States security be banned?” Buck responded.
“It should be ended one way or another. But there are different ways of doing that,” Blinken responded.
Committee members also showed a host of TikTok videos that encouraged users to harm themselves and commit suicide. Many questioned why the platform’s Chinese counterpart, Douyin, does not carry the same controversial and potentially dangerous content as the American product.
Chew responded that it depends on the laws of the country where the app is operating. He said the company has about 40,000 moderators that track harmful content and an algorithm that flags material.
Wealth management firm Wedbush described the hearing as a “disaster” for TikTok that made a ban more likely if the social media platform doesn’t separate from its Chinese parent. Emile El Nems, an analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, said a ban would benefit TikTok rivals YouTube, Instagram and Snap, “likely resulting in higher revenue share of the total advertising wallet.”
A U.S. ban on the app would be unprecedented and it’s unclear how it would be enforced.
Experts say officials could try to force Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores. The U.S. could also block access to TikTok’s infrastructure and data, seize its domain names or force internet service providers such as Comcast and Verizon to filter TikTok data traffic, said Ahmed Ghappour, a criminal law and computer security expert who teaches at Boston University School of Law.
To avoid a ban, TikTok has been trying to sell officials on a $1.5 billion plan, Project Texas, which routes all U.S. user data to Oracle. Under the project, access to U.S. data is managed by U.S. employees through a separate entity called TikTok U.S. Data Security, which is run independently of ByteDance and monitored by outside observers.
As of October, all new U.S. user data was being stored inside the country. The company started deleting all historic U.S. user data from non-Oracle servers this month, in a process expected to be completed this year, Chew said.
Congress, the White House, U.S. armed forces and more than half of U.S. states have already banned the use of the app from official devices.
But wiping away all the data tracking associated with the platform might prove difficult. In a report released this month, the Cybersecurity company Feroot said so-called tracking pixels from ByteDance, which collect user information, were found on 30 U.S state websites, including some where the app has been banned.
Other countries including Denmark, Canada, Great Britain and New Zealand, along with the European Union, have already banned TikTok from government-issued devices.
A complete TikTok ban in the U.S. would risk political and popular backlash.
The company sent dozens of popular TikTokers to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lobby lawmakers to preserve the platform.
And a dozen civil right and free speech organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and PEN America, have signed a letter opposing a wholesale TikTok ban, arguing it would set a “dangerous precedent for the restriction of speech.”
David Kennedy, a former government intelligence officer who runs the cybersecurity company TrustedSec, said he agrees with restricting TikTok access on government-issued phones but that a nationwide ban might be too extreme.
“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.”
TikTok CEO to tell Congress app is safe, urge against ban
TikTok's CEO plans to tell Congress that the video-sharing app is committed to user safety, data protection and security, and keeping the platform free from Chinese government influence.
Shou Zi Chew is due to answer questions Thursday from U.S. lawmakers concerned about the social media platform's effects on its young user base and possible national security risks posed by the popular app, which was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs.
Chew is sticking to a familiar script as he urges officials against pursuing an all-out ban on TikTok or for the company to be sold off to new owners.
TikTok's efforts to ensure the security of its users' data, including a $1.5 billion project to store the information on Oracle servers in the U.S. and allow outside monitors to inspect its source code, go “above and beyond” what any of its rivals are doing, according to Chew's prepared remarks released ahead of his appearance before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
“No other social media company, or entertainment platform like TikTok, provides this level of access and transparency,” he said.
Chew pushed back against fears that TikTok could become a tool of China's ruling Communist Party because its parent company, ByteDance, is based in Beijing.
“Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew said.
He distanced TikTok from its Chinese roots and denied the “inaccurate” belief that TikTok's corporate structure makes it “beholden to the Chinese government." ByteDance has evolved into a privately held “global enterprise,” Chew said, with 60% owned by big institutional investors, 20% owned by the Chinese entrepreneurs who founded it and the rest by employees.
It's “emphatically untrue” that TikTok sends data on its American users to Beijing, he said.
"TikTok has never shared, or received a request to share, U.S. user data with the Chinese government," Chew said. “Nor would TikTok honor such a request if one were ever made.”
TikTok has come under fire in the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific, where a growing number of governments have banned the app from devices used for official business over worries it poses risks to cybersecurity and data privacy or could be used to push pro-Beijing narratives and misinformation.
Chew, a 40-year-old Singaporean who was appointed CEO in 2021, said in a TikTok video this week that the congressional hearing comes at a “pivotal moment” for the company, which now has 150 million American users.
U.S. regulators have reportedly threatened to ban TikTok unless the Chinese owners sell their stake. Lawmakers have introduced measures that would expand the Biden administration’s authority to enact a national ban and called for “structural restrictions” between TikTok’s American operations and ByteDance, including potentially separating the companies.
Chew said TikTok's data security project, dubbed Project Texas, is the right answer, not a ban or a sale of the company.
The company started deleting the historical protected data of U.S. users from non-Oracle servers this month, Chew said. When that process is completed later this year, all U.S. data will be protected by American law and controlled by a U.S.-led security team.
“Under this structure, there is no way for the Chinese government to access it or compel access to it,” he said.
He said a TikTok ban would hurt the U.S. economy and small American businesses that use the app to sell their products, while reducing competition in an “increasingly concentrated market.” He added that a sale “would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access.”
Walton offers up to 100% cashback on computer items
Walton Digi-Tech Industries Limited is providing up to 100 percent cashback on computer items. The “Walton Computer Cashback Offer” campaign is conducted with the slogan “Technology Products for Everyone”. As per the offer, customers are being provided with up to 100 percent guaranteed cashback on the purchase of laptop, desktop computer and accessories from any Walton Plaza across the country, according to a press release“The facilities of up to 100 percent cashback are being given so that everyone can afford the advanced technology products manufactured in Bangladesh at affordable prices,” said Walton Computer’s Chief Business Officer Touhidur Rahman Raad.“This initiative has created easy scope for everyone including students, service holders and freelancers to avail their necessary digital devices. Customers can get this offer on purchasing computer products and accessories from nearly 600 Walton Plaza across the country,” he said.Walton Computer is now manufacturing and marketing 44 kinds of technology products of 17 categories under 32 brand names. Various customer benefits, including cash discount, EMI and installment facilities, exchange offers and so many are being provided on the purchase of Walton computer products and accessories, said Raad.Customers can adjust the received cashback while making cash payment and the offer is also available on the products' purchased with six-month installment facility at zero interest, said the release.
TikTok dismisses calls for Chinese owners to sell stakes
TikTok was dismissive Wednesday of reports that the Biden administration was calling for its Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the popular video-sharing app, saying such a move wouldn't help protect national security.
The company was responding to a report in The Wall Street Journal that said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., part of the Treasury Department, was threatening a U.S. ban on the app unless its owners, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., divested.
“If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access," TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said. "The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing.”
The Journal report cited anonymous “people familiar with the matter.” The Treasury Department and the White House’s National Security Council declined to comment.
Late last month, the White House gave all federal agencies 30 days to wipe TikTok off all government devices.
The Office of Management and Budget called the guidance a “critical step forward in addressing the risks presented by the app to sensitive government data.” Some agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, already have restrictions in place. The White House already does not allow TikTok on its devices.
Congress passed the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” in December as part of a sweeping government funding package. The legislation does allow for TikTok use in certain cases, including for national security, law enforcement and research purposes.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in both the House and Senate have been moving forward with legislation that would give the Biden administration more power to clamp down on TikTok.
Rep. Mike McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, has been a vocal critic of the app, saying the Chinese Communist Party is using it to “manipulate and monitor its users while it gobbles up Americans’ data to be used for their malign activities.”
“Anyone with TikTok downloaded on their device has given the CCP a backdoor to all their personal information. It’s a spy balloon into your phone,” the Texas Republican said.
TikTok remains extremely popular and is used by two-thirds of teens in the U.S. But there is increasing concern that Beijing could obtain control of American user data that the app has obtained.
The company has been dismissive of the ban for federal devices and has noted that it is developing security and data privacy plans as part of the Biden administration’s ongoing national security review.
Huawei introduces new digital power inverters in Bangladesh
Leading global ICT solution and equipment provider, Huawei, has recently introduced four new inverters at a conference for industry stakeholders, Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) partners.
The conference ‘Huawei Partner Ecological Conference 2023’ has highlighted the efficacy of Digital Power and the attendees have discussed the prospects of renewable energy solutions in Bangladesh, reads a press release.
Liang Weixing (Jack), Managing Director, Digital Power, Huawei South Asia, presented the different inverters for the Bangladesh market at the event.
He has introduced SUN2000-100-KTL-M2, SUN2000-115-KTL-M2 and SUN2000-50-KTL-M3 model inverter for the Commercial and Industrial (C&I) market. And for the utility sector he put SUN2000-330KTL-H1 inverter in place, it said.
Liang Weixing (Jack) said at the event, “Digital power is comparatively a new concept for Bangladesh’s industries. It has huge potential and can be very effective in tackling the energy crisis. Industries will not only be able to reduce costs and ensure operational excellence but also become independent.
“With that intention, we have brought outstanding products to Bangladesh today. I believe Bangladesh will greatly benefit from these solutions. Besides, enabling Bangladesh to embrace renewable energy could not be possible without our partners. We are hopeful that we will grow together with the country.”
“All the inverters for C&I are equipped with a feature, namely Smart String-Level Disconnector (SSLD) to detect reverse current flow, and short circuits. These inverters have PID (Potential Induced Degradation) recovery feature that can improve a solar PV system output by 5% as well. Besides, only Huawei inverters have TUV certified Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter (AFCI) safety function that resists fire hazards by detecting arc sparks within 200 meters in 0.5 seconds,” added the press release.
“Bangladesh pledges to reduce 22% of its carbon emissions by 2030. Huawei has provided solar power solutions in Bangladesh for the last three years. In between, it has provided solutions to a number of government and industry projects. The country’s second-largest solar plant at Mymensingh is using Huawei’s digital power solution,” it added.
Meta slashes another 10,000 jobs
Facebook parent Meta is slashing another 10,000 jobs and will not fill 5,000 open positions as the social media pioneer cuts costs.
The company announced 11,000 job cuts in November, about 13% of its workforce at the time.
Meta and other tech companies have been hiring aggressively for at least two years and in recent months have begun to let some of those workers go.
Early last month, Meta posted falling profits and its third consecutive quarter of declining revenue.
The company said Tuesday it will reduce the size of its recruiting team and make further cuts in its tech groups in late April, and then its business groups in late May.
“This will be tough and there’s no way around that,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “It will mean saying goodbye to talented and passionate colleagues who have been part of our success.”
The Menlo Park, California, company has invested billions of dollars to realign its focus on the metaverse. In February it said a downturn in online advertising and competition from rivals such as TikTok weighed on results.
“As I’ve talked about efficiency this year, I’ve said that part of our work will involve removing jobs -- and that will be in service of both building a leaner, more technical company and improving our business performance to enable our long term vision,” said Zuckerberg.
The biggest tech companies in the U.S. are cutting costs elsewhere, too.
This month, Amazon paused construction on its second headquarters in Virginia following the biggest round of layoffs in the company’s history and its shifting plans around remote work.
In early trading, Meta shares rose 6%.
Imo brings new features to safeguard online privacy
Instant audio/video call and messaging app, imo, recently launched a new campaign on International Women's Day to offer enhanced privacy protection and ensure cyber security for the users.
According to numerous data, cybercrimes such as hacking, blackmailing, and cyberbullying have been occurring regularly in Bangladesh. To be particular, online harassment against women, especially on different social networking sites, is on the rise as a recent study has found that 64 out of every 100 women in the country faced some kind of online harassment and violence owing to a lack of safe online space.
As far as social platforms are concerned, a user may face privacy issues at different stages of communication and there are by far no proper solutions to address these problems. Against such a backdrop, imo introduced its new campaign: "Your privacy, Your Control."
Read more: imo boosts security layer with new anti-fraud system
Through this initiative, imo has brought three advanced security features – "Time Machine," "Block Screenshot for Calls," and "Friend Request." These features will help the users solve many of the security or privacy issues faced at any stage of their communication.
The Time Machine feature will allow users to delete the selected chat history timelessly. Also, the Block Screenshot for Calls feature will provide them with the opportunity to stop the person on the receiving end to take screenshots on calls.
The Friend Request feature will further protect users' safety by prohibiting unknown/unfriendly people from reaching out when they are not a connection.
Belgium bans TikTok from government phones after US, EU
Belgium is banning TikTok from government phones over worries about cybersecurity, privacy and misinformation, the country's prime minister said Friday, mirroring recent action by other authorities in Europe and the U.S.
The Chinese-owned video sharing app will be temporarily prohibited from devices owned or paid for by the Belgium's federal government for at least six months, according to a post on Alexander de Croo's website.
TikTok said it is “disappointed at this suspension, which is based on basic misinformation about our company.” The company said it's "readily available to meet with officials to address any concerns and set the record straight on misconceptions.”
TikTok is owned by China’s ByteDance, which moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020. The company sought to distance itself from its Chinese roots, saying its parent company is incorporated outside of China and it's majority owned by global institutional investors.
But the European Union's three main institutions and Denmark's defense ministry have already ordered employees to remove the app from devices used for official business. Similar bans have been imposed in Canada and the U.S.
The tussle over TikTok is part of a wider global rivalry between China and the U.S. and its Western allies over technological and economic supremacy.
De Croo said Belgium's ban was based on warnings from the state security service and its cybersecurity center, which said the app could harvest user data and tweak algorithms to manipulate its news feed and content.
They also warned that TikTok could be compelled to carry out spying for Beijing, he said, without being more specific.
“We are in a new geopolitical context where influence and surveillance between states have shifted to the digital world," de Croo said in an online statement. “We must not be naive: TikTok is a Chinese company which today is obliged to cooperate with the intelligence services. This is the reality. Prohibiting its use on federal service devices is common sense.”
TikTok said user data is stored in the U.S. and Singapore and pointed to new measures to ease European concerns by storing user data in European data centers.
“The Chinese government cannot compel another sovereign nation to provide data stored in that nation’s territory,” the company said in a statement.
Huawei holds campus recruitment program at KUET
Huawei recently organised a campus recruitment program at the Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) to give the students a chance to work with it.
Around 200 students from three departments – CSE, EEE, and ECE – took part in the written and verbal examination under the campus recruitment process. Qualified students will get the opportunity to join Huawei soon.
Professor Mostafizur Rahman of the ECE department, Professor Saifur Rahman of the EEE department and other faculty members were present.
Read: Huawei scoops up four awards at MWC 2023
Huang Baoxiong, human resource director of Huawei South Asia, said: "Operation in more than 170 countries and regions allows Huawei to ensure a diversified working environment and an atmosphere to learn and grow."
"We maintain a ratio where 80 percent of employees are recruited locally in Bangladesh and every year we recruit a good chunk of fresh graduates from different universities. It ensures a very good mix of fresh minds and experts in Huawei."
Mostafizur said: "Huawei creates enough opportunities for the local students and talents. It has come forward to recruit our students directly from campus. Our students have the merit and ambition to always do better in their careers."
Elon Musk apologizes after mocking disabled Twitter employee
— If you’re not told you are fired, are you really fired? At Twitter, probably. And then, sometimes, you get your job back — if you want it.
Haraldur Thorleifsson, who until recently was employed at Twitter, logged in to his computer last Sunday to do some work — only to find himself locked out, along with 200 others.
He might have figured, as others before him have in the chaotic months of layoffs and firings since Elon Musk took over the company, that he was out of a job.
Instead, after nine days of no answer from Twitter as to whether or not he was still employed, Thorleifsson decided to tweet at Musk to see if he could catch the billionaire’s attention and get an answer to his Schrödinger’s job situation.
“Maybe if enough people retweet you’ll answer me here?” he wrote on Monday.
Eventually, he got his answer after a surreal Twitter exchange with Musk, who proceeded to quiz him about his work, question his disability and need for accommodations (Thorleifsson, who goes by “Halli,” has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair) and tweet that Thorleifsson has a “prominent, active Twitter account and is wealthy” and the “reason he confronted me in public was to get a big payout.” While the exchange was going on, Thorleifsson said he received an email that he was no longer employed.Late Tuesday afternoon, however, Musk had a change of heart.
“I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful,” he tweeted. “He is considering remaining at Twitter.”
Thorleifsson did not immediately respond to a message for comment following Musk’s tweet. In an earlier email, he called the experience “surreal.”
“You had every right to lay me off. But it would have been nice to let me know!” he tweeted to Musk.
Thorleifsson, who lives in Iceland, has about 151,000 Twitter followers (Musk has over 130 million). He joined Twitter in 2021, when the company, under the prior management, acquired his startup Ueno.
He was lauded in Icelandic media for choosing to receive the purchase price in wages rather than a lump sum payout. That’s because this way, he would pay higher taxes to Iceland in support of its social services and safety net.
Thorleifsson’s next move: “I’m opening a restaurant in downtown Reykjavik very soon,” he tweeted. “It’s named after my mom.”
Twitter did not immediately respond to a message for comment.