TikTok CEO Shou Chew made his first appearance in Congress on Thursday and said the harsh words he faced from lawmakers were similar to the harsh words TikTok users have towards lawmakers who have no idea how social media works. was comparable.
Chu’s hearing lasted more than five hours and began with lawmakers calling for a nationwide ban on the app. This is a given. A series of bills aimed at limiting TikTok’s reach have appeared in various minutes since his 2019 due to alleged data sharing with China. The hearing saw a rare moment of bipartisan efforts to crack down on the app.
A TikTok user saw it. There were dozens of accounts live-streaming the hearings, and dozens of journalists, comedians, and members of the public commenting on the app in real time. Here are some of TikTok’s favorite or least favorite moments from the TikTok Congressional Hearings.
Everything You Need to Know About the TikTok Ban in the US
Rep. Richard Hudson’s Weak WiFi Connection
While TikTok users make fun of North Carolina Republican Rep. Richard Hudson, they don’t seem to understand how Wi-Fi works.
“Mr. Chu, does TikTok access your home Wi-Fi network?” Hudson asked.
“Only if the user turns on Wi-Fi,” Chew said. “Sorry, maybe I don’t quite understand your question.”
“So if I have the TikTok app on my phone and my phone is connected to my home Wi-Fi network, will TikTok access that network?” Hudson said.
Hudson’s question was inherently confusing, so Chu seemed a little confused.
“So are there any chances you can access other devices on that home WiFi network?” Hudson asked.
“Congressman, we do nothing beyond industry norms. I think the answer to your question is no. said Mr.
One TikTok video of the interaction garnered over 330,000 views, 2,300 comments, and 34,000 likes in three hours.
“This is so embarrassing,” the user who posted the video, @hoolie_r, wrote in the caption. tone.
Almost Everything Rep. Buddy Carter Said
I would like to speak to the person who prepared Republican Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter for this hearing. At one point during interrogation, he became convinced that his TikTok was collecting biometric data from users, specifically how users’ eyes dilate when watching videos. This is incredibly ridiculous. The flow of that conversation is as follows.
“Can you say with 100% certainty that TikTok is not using your phone’s camera to determine if content that induces pupil dilation should be amplified by an algorithm? Can you tell me that? ?”
“We do not collect body, facial, or vocal data to identify you.”
“you don’t?”
“No. The only facial data we collect is when you use a filter with sunglasses on your face, for example. We need to know where your eyes are.”
“If you don’t know if your eyes are open, why should you know where they are?”
“And the data is stored on your local device and deleted after use if you use it for a facial. Again, we do not collect body, facial, or voice data to identify you. ”
“It’s hard to believe. It’s our understanding that they’re looking in the eye — so how do we determine their age?”
“We rely on age measurement as an important age guarantee.”
“Year?”
“Dating is asking users their age. We have also developed some tools to check their age by looking at public profiles and looking at posted videos.”
“That’s creepy. Tell me more about it.”
“It’s public. [a] Publish your videos — that’s how you get people to watch your videos. we see them “
A particularly popular TikTok video of that exchange is captioned. [sic] Look what these corpses are trying to claim.” Nearly all of the comments under the video are along the lines of, “How is this guy allowed to do this job?” increase.
In another particularly popular video of Carter’s question, he asked Chu whether the Chinese version of TikTok, known as Douyin, has the same “challenges” as TikTok in the United States. “Industry Challenge” This was a very interesting question, to Carter’s credit. Unfortunately, one of the most notable aspects of this series of questions about him is Carter’s inability to get Chu to answer.
“Look how many times this congressman got in his way,” one user wrote in a video that got thousands of likes. Many of the comments are consistent with that thought. “Why do they keep reminding him that he has to tell the truth so condescending,” another user commented.
As one user still commented below another Video calling out for Congressman Carter: “Buddy is all over TT today 😂”
Lack of space for nuance
The dozens of TikTok videos about congressional hearings that don’t directly quote politicians, unfortunately, point out that these hearings are largely useless. One user commented below the hearing video.
In a statement after the hearing, TikTok spokesperson Brooke Overwetter told Axios:
Despite the very realistic political standup, the hearing made a few things clear: Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee view TikTok as a national security threat and Partisans are in favor of a nationwide ban, and we may be nearing that time, with Congress seriously considering the country’s privacy laws.
