Bipartisan Senate leaders are demanding answers from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on the company’s “incorrect claims” about where it has stored the data of American users.
Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic Chair of Senate Judiciary’s privacy and technology subcommittee, and Marsha Blackburn, the top Republican on Senate Commerce’s data security subcommittee, wrote to the CEO on Tuesday raising alarm that “TikTok allowed private data about American users to be stored and accessed in China, despite repeated public assurances and Congressional testimony that TikTok data was kept in the United States.” They cite seemingly contradictory statements made under oath by the TikTok CEO himself in March 2023, as well as by TikTok’s head of public policy, Michael Beckerman, in October 2021.
The senators’ letter, shared exclusively with Forbes, was sent in light of recent Forbes reporting revealing that TikTok has stored the most sensitive financial information of its biggest American and European stars—including those in the TikTok Creator Fund—on servers in China, where it’s been accessible to employees. TikTok stores tax forms, social security numbers and other personal data to pay creators who earn money for their content and outside vendors that work...
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