The cancellation raises questions about the continuing influence of the Chinese Communist Party over the company, lawmakers say.
TikTok pulled out of an upcoming meeting with the House Select Committee on China, which was set to take place Sept. 15. The company cited its inability to comment on ongoing litigation over claims that its products harmed children. Committee Chairman John Moolenaar said those issues were not part of the meeting’s agenda.
Lawmakers wanted to understand how TikTok’s US business is safeguarding the app’s algorithm and Americans’ data from Chinese influence following its separation from China-based ByteDance. TikTok’s chief security officer, Will Farrell, was expected to attend the meeting, but the company backed out on Aug. 27.
Moolenaar said TikTok is trying to avoid broader scrutiny over how independent the company is from China. ByteDance still owns a 19.9% stake in TikTok’s US operations and controls the most valuable parts of its business.
Earlier last week, Meta Platforms* reached an $18 billion settlement with state authorities over claims that its products had hooked and harmed children and teenagers. Meta then pushed TikTok and YouTube to join it in adopting stronger, industrywide protections for minors across social media. Neither platform has responded publicly to the demands.
TikTok, Meta Platforms*, Google's YouTube and Snap Inc.’s Snapchat are facing more than 3,000 individual complaints from young users or their families. Plaintiffs allege that the companies’ products were designed to addict minors. Public school districts and attorneys general in several states have made similar claims. The companies deny the allegations.
In August, TikTok and ByteDance also agreed to pay $400 million to resolve a Justice Department lawsuit. The department accused the platform of illegally collecting data on children under 13. The settlement requires court approval.
Earlier this week, TikTok and YouTube were absent from an event convened by the Trump administration’s Office of the Surgeon General on combating the harms of excessive screen use among American children. Safety chiefs from Meta and Snap were present.
Moolenaar said the committee will try to schedule another gathering before the end of the year and plans to again invite TikTok US CEO Adam Presser.
“TikTok’s missed another opportunity to be transparent and open, and that doesn’t speak well for TikTok,”
Moolenaar said.
*banned and designated as extremist in Russia
Source: Bloomberg
