TikTok CEO Grilled Over Safety Considerations in Listening to With US Lawmakers

US lawmakers at a congressional listening to on Thursday accused TikTok of serving dangerous content material and inflicting “emotional distress” on younger customers, grilling the Chinese-owned app’s CEO on the corporate’s outsized affect on teenagers.

Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington, kicked off the listening to with TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew saying that inside minutes of making an account on TikTok, the content material algorithm promotes self-harm and consuming dysfunction content material, and encourages “dangerous” challenges that may put youngsters’ lives in danger.

Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey, mentioned content material on TikTok “exacerbated feelings of emotional stress” in youngsters.

Chew, in his first look earlier than Congress, testified that whereas the “vast majority” of TikTok customers are over the age of 18, the corporate has invested in measures to guard younger individuals who use the app.

The listening to comes at an important second for TikTok, because the Biden administration is going through rising strain from lawmakers to ban the app within the nation for nationwide safety considerations. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese tech firm.

Lawmakers quizzed Chew about whether or not Americans’ consumer information might be accessed by the Chinese authorities in addition to the way it prevented dangerous content material from reaching younger customers.

Rep. Bob Latta, Republican from Ohio, spoke through the listening to of a 10-year-old lady who suffocated herself doing a so-called “blackout challenge” from movies posted on the app. Latta mentioned TikTok shouldn’t be protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, a regulation that typically provides on-line platforms immunity for content material generated by customers.

Chew later mentioned through the listening to that content material reminiscent of harmful challenges had been prohibited from TikTok.

TikTok has rolled out extra parental management instruments not too long ago, and earlier this month mentioned it was within the early levels of growing a characteristic that may let dad and mom to dam their teenagers from seeing movies that comprise sure phrases or hashtags.

© Thomson Reuters 2023