The CEOs of TikTok, Discord, Snap, Meta, and X, formerly known as Twitter, testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child sexual exploitation in January 2024.
In the hearing, the nationality of Chew Shou Zi, the Singaporean CEO of TikTok, became a point of contention as Senator Tom Cotton questioned him about his citizenship and potential affiliations with the Chinese Communist Party.
Often interrupting the TikTok CEO, the senator asked Shou Zi about his nationality as follows: “You live in Singapore; of what nation are you a citizen? Are you a citizen of any other nation? Have you ever applied for Chinese citizenship? Do you have a Singaporean passport? Do you have any other passports from any other nations? Have you ever been associated or affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party?”
Singapore’s Ambassador to the U.S., Lui Tuck Yew, described the questioning as “taken too far.” The ambassador believes that the questioning can undermine the image and understanding of how the world views the U.S.
Some people believed that the questioning was understandable as it concerned TikTok’s data security. However, others argued that the CEO’s nationality isn’t relevant to concerns about TikTok’s security.
RR Author
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