Global Courant 2023-05-24 02:10:55
Shou Chew says the app will “never” provide user data to the Chinese government and vows to fight the ban in the US state.
Doha, Qatar — TikTok is “here to stay,” said the video hosting company’s CEO, Shou Chew, as he branded the US state of Montana’s decision to ban it “unconstitutional.”
Several governments and organizations have taken steps to ban the Chinese app on phones used by their officials, with some claiming that user data collected by the app could be accessed by the Chinese government.
Chew, who claimed his company will win Montana’s lawsuit against the ban, said some users of the app in the United States have also filed a separate lawsuit against the ban, which takes effect Jan. 1. next year.
“Montana’s bill is simply unconstitutional and we are confident that we will prevail (in the lawsuit),” Chew said Tuesday at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.
Last month, Montana lawmakers passed a bill to ban the app from operating in the state by banning mobile app stores from offering TikTok for download.
Chew claimed that the app has over 150 million users in the US and over a billion around the world. He added that it provided users with a window of discovery and “free speech”.
“It (TikTok) is a very different experience from the other apps available in the market. Many of our users use TikTok to find their communities and there are five million small businesses in the US and millions more around the world that rely on TikTok,” he said.
‘Here to stay’
When asked to reveal his “plan B” in case TikTok is banned around the world, Chew said the app serves millions around the world and has “deep impact”.
“It gives me confidence that we can have very thoughtful conversations with regulators around the world — and we’re here to stay.”
In March, the Singaporean head of Chinese tech company ByteDance appeared before a US Congress committee and sought to allay concerns about the app’s ties to the Chinese government and its alleged inability to counter “harmful” content.
Chew said it was a good opportunity for the app to tell his side of the story and clear up the “myths and misconceptions” about it, which he said were not available in mainland China.
“The Chinese government has never asked for US user data and we will not provide it even if requested,” Chew told the audience, some of whom were able to see Chew’s speech posted on the app itself.
Plans for data protection
The 40-year-old businessman said his company has built an “unprecedented project” called “Project Texas” to protect the data of its US-based users.
“U.S. data is stored on U.S. soil by a U.S. company and controlled by U.S. personnel,” Chew said.
The $1.5 billion plan, which he said was “a complicated project that would take time to complete,” is based on contracts with Texas-based technology company Oracle and uses a “firewall that shields protected user data against unauthorized foreign entry”.
“We believe we have taken steps beyond what our industry has done to protect the security of US user data,” Chew claimed.
He revealed that the tech company has been working on a similar plan in Europe for the past few months called “Project Clover”.
He warned that no technology company can promise that 100 percent of its data is safe from all threats.
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