The 40-year-old Singaporean suffered unusually intense grilling by both Republicans and Democrats who fear that Beijing could subvert the site for spying, data harvesting and advancing a Chinese Communist Party agenda.
The Harvard-educated former banker failed over more than five grueling hours to defuse an existential threat to TikTok as the app seeks to survive a White House ultimatum that it either split from its Chinese ownership or be banned in the United States.
Lawmakers from the House Energy and Commerce Committee afforded Chew no respite, frequently denying him opportunities to expand on his answers or tout the site's huge global popularity with young people.
"ByteDance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government and is a private company," Chew told lawmakers in his opening remarks, referring to TikTok's China-based parent company.
"We believe what's needed are clear transparent rules that apply broadly to all tech companies -- ownership is not at the core of addressing these concerns," Chew added.
A ban would be an unprecedented act on a media company by the US government, cutting off the country's 150 million monthly users from an app that has become a cultural powerhouse -- especially for young people.
"TikTok has repeatedly chosen the path for more control, more surveillance and more manipulation. Your platform should be banned," committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers said.
In one particularly heated exchange, Chew was forced to acknowledge that some personal data of Americans was still subject to Chinese law, but insisted that would soon be changed.
The US representatives also confronted Chew with dire examples of young users promoting suicide or dangerous stunts that have proved fatal and angered authorities globally.
"Your technology is literally leading to death," said Congressman Gus Bilirakis as he pointed to a family in the audience whose son was killed in a train tragedy that his family says was linked to his TikTok use.
- Warning from Beijing -
Ahead of the hearing, the commerce ministry in Beijing said it would "firmly oppose" a forced sale, underlining that any deal or spin-off of TikTok would require approval by Chinese authorities.
"Forcing the sale of TikTok... will seriously undermine the confidence of investors from various countries, including China, to invest in the US," added spokesperson Shu Jueting.
TikTok is under the gun of several pieces of legislation -- including one bill backed by the White House that already paves the way for a ban -- and has united lawmakers across the political divide.
"Mister Chew, welcome to the most bipartisan committee in Congress. We may not always agree on how to get there, but we care about our national security, we care about our economy, and we sure as heck care about our children," said congressman Buddy Carter, a Republican.
Supporters of TikTok and free speech activists criticized the hearing as political theater and urged against an outright ban.
"Taking a bludgeon to TikTok, and by extension to Americans' First Amendment protections, is not the right solution to the risks that TikTok poses to the privacy of Americans and to the national security of the United States," said Nadine Farid Johnson of PEN America, which defends free speech.
TikTok still hopes to appease the authorities.
Chew's testimony promoted the company's elaborate plan -- known as Project Texas -- to satisfy national security concerns, under which the handling of US data will be ring-fenced into a US-run division.
But lawmakers poured doubts on the project, saying it would do nothing to remove their concerns that TikTok was vulnerable to China.
"Please rename your project. Texas is not the appropriate name. We stand for freedom and transparency and we don't want your project." said August Pfluger, a Republican from Texas.
Inside TikTok's operation to win over Washington
Washington (AFP) March 23, 2023 - With a giant billboard at Washington's main train station, an army of influencers on Capitol Hill and ad campaigns in the political press, TikTok is pulling out all the stops as it fights for survival in the US capital.
The Chinese-owned video-sharing platform has been on a charm offensive to persuade Washington's political elite it is a boon for millions of Americans -- and not a security threat that needs to be neutralized.
"Hi guys, I'm here outside of Lindsey Graham's office here in the United States Senate," greeting card maker @sparksofjoyco told her 90,000 followers in a video filmed at the door of the Republican senator.
"I'm going to be in contact to tell them the impact that TikTok has on my life and my business and share the concerns that you guys have shared in the comments."
It looked like an innocent enough vignette featuring a TikTok user sufficiently worried by the threat to her favorite app to travel to Washington, although the protest may not have been as spontaneous as it initially appeared.
The influencer had been pictured hours earlier, arm in arm with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.
The Singaporean executive -- dressed-down in jeans and a hoodie -- has been ubiquitous on his own platform and in traditional media, ahead of his hotly anticipated appearance Thursday before lawmakers.
His mission has been straightforward but daunting: to convince the American political class of his platform's serious efforts at protecting user data.
Lawmakers and government officials of all stripes have fretted that TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance could pass Americans' data to the government in Beijing and are calling for it to be removed from app stores or sold to a US firm.
Supporters argue that the platform is no more prone to data breaches than any other apps that collect personal information -- and that lawmakers should be working to firm up privacy laws rather than spoiling their fun.
- 43 lobbyists -
TikTok itself has for years rejected its characterization as a threat, but tension between Washington and Beijing, exacerbated by the recent destruction of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, have spurred politicians to get tough.
The app -- which recently revealed it has 150 million US users -- is already outlawed on all federal government devices, but lawmakers and President Joe Biden are weighing an all-out nationwide ban.
TikTok has deployed 43 lobbyists, including aging but influential former senators from both parties, to argue its case.
Almost every morning when Washington's movers and shakers wake up to Politico's Playbook newsletter, they encounter a message from TikTok that is designed to allay their fears of Chinese surveillance.
"We're committed to protecting your personal data, while still providing you with the global TikTok experience you love," the company says.
Lobbying is nothing new in the nation's capital, where it is common to encounter influence groups in the corridors of Congress, looking for elected officials to court.
Sarah Bryner, a researcher at OpenSecrets, which tracks corporate lobbying, says advertising in Washington tends to be targeted at political types -- primarily lawmakers and their staffers -- rather than the general public.
For TikTok, this lobbying operation ran to more than $5.3 million in 2022, according to OpenSecrets.
That is more than Twitter spent for the same purpose and, more importantly, 20 times what the video-sharing platform was paying for lobbying campaigns in 2019.
Whether the lavish budgets will change hearts and minds remains to be seen, but the early signs do not bode well.
Opening the hearing for TikTok's boss on Thursday, Republican House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy Rodgers appeared to already have made up her mind.
"Your platform should be banned," she said.
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