TikTok, popular social media platform, is facing increasing pressure to be sold or banned in the US. CEO Shou Zi Chew testified recently in front of Capitol Hill and angered lawmakers with his unclear testimony. Analysts predict that ByteDance, the Beijing-based parent company of TikTok, has a few months to work out a sale or the app will be banned. During the hearing, Chew admitted that some ByteDance employees could still have access to US user data and touted a $1.5 billion investment in “Project Texas” that would shift all US-centric data to Oracle servers. He also argued that TikTok has been more transparent than its big tech rivals. '
Kellyanne Conway, a former Trump adviser, expressed opposition to calls for a ban on TikTok and noted that most users are over 18 and there is a 60-minute limit for kids under 18. The app is already banned on Federal Government devices, while multiple states have passed legislation to prevent employees from using it on state devices. To try and prevent a ban, TikTok launched an all-out push and hired lobbyist Ankit Desai, a former aide to the then-Sen. In 2005, Biden was in office. The company has also flooded Washington, D.C. This area with ads expressing their commitment to privacy and showing how American small businesses depend on the platform, is filled with ads expressing their commitment to data privacy and showing how their small businesses depend on it. '
Lawmakers remain concerned that China could use the app to spy on or influence American users, and the Biden Administration has reportedly demanded that ByteDance executives divest their stakes in TikTok or face a nationwide ban in the US. Snapchat is expected to be the biggest beneficiary if a ban is placed. Beijing has said that it would "resolutely oppose" the forced sale of TikTok, which would damage Chinese investors and hurt the country's "confidence to invest in the United States.