'Are There TikTok Employees... Who Are Members Of The Chinese Communist Party?' Hawley Grills Exec

chairman thanks to all the witnesses for being here mr pappas let me start with you i have to say it's great to see you here today i have repeatedly invited your company to testify before congress i invited them to testify to the judiciary subcommittee on crime and terrorism in november of 2019 i invited them to testify again in september of the following year both times we were stiffed tick tock told me that they would set up a meeting with the ceo they didn't want to testify in public but they set up a meeting with the ceo after november 2019 they then cancel that meeting so uh it's nice to see tick tock being willing to answer questions uh in public it's a it's a pleasant change um let's let's dig into a few things if we could specifically about tic tocs links to the chinese communist party in response to a letter from some of my colleagues tick tock claimed earlier this year that the company has never shared data never with the chinese government is that correct that is correct yes and has never shared data with the chinese communist party is that correct we will never share data period uh my question was in the past tense have has tick tock ever shared data with the chinese communist party we have never shared data with the chinese government correct with the chinese communist party yes correct do you have any have you ever shared it with members to members of the chinese communist party we have said many times senator that we do have chinese engineers based in china i don't think there's any platform up here that would be able to speak to what you're talking about and as it relates to the political affiliation of an individual but i'm happy to assure you that we are ensuring the access controls around our data as well as the storage of that data in the united states so i think you're telling me that there are tick tock employees or by dance employees who are members of the chinese communist party is that no i'm saying i wouldn't be able to verify that well let me just ask you that affirmatively are there members of are there tick tock employees or by dance employees who are members of the chinese communist party senator i'm saying nobody that's sitting on this panel could tell you a political i'm not interested about anybody's opinion i'm asking you a factual question are there members of the chinese communist party employed by tick tock and bite dance yes or no i wouldn't be able to tell you the political affiliation of any individual what i can tell you is how much we're investing membership in the communist chinese party is not exactly like membership in the democrat party so i'm looking for an answer you tell me you don't know tick tock doesn't know i'm i here's what i can tell you i can tell you that our u.s and singapore leadership there are no ccp members i can tell you so you do know that but you but you're telling me that you don't know if there are any members who are employed by tick tock or bite dance members of the chinese communist party senator i am happy to share that we are putting access that's not my question my question is that's not my question my question is are there any tick tock employees or white dance members employees members of the chinese communist party yes or no senator i'm saying nobody could sit up here and give you so you don't know you're saying you don't know you do know your leadership isn't but you don't know about your employees is that your testimony i know that everyone who makes a strategic decision at this platform is not a member of the ccp strategic decision okay it's interesting it's interesting to me that you're quite confident that anyone who can make a strategic decision how many people is that it's a leadership team so number and again the leadership team is based in the u.s and singapore our ceo is based in singapore he's not chinese um happy to go into the efforts that would it surprise you to learn that forbes magazine recently reported that at least 300 current tick tock or bite dance employees were members of chinese state media and affiliated with the chinese communist party again we don't look at the political affiliations or can't speak to individuals but what i can tell you is we're protecting the data in the united states well apparently though you do look at political affiliation because you're quite willing to sit here and tell me that no one who has strategic input or makes strategic decisions is a member of the chinese communist party so you do know very well as a matter of fact you just don't want to answer my other question we have thousands of people that work at the company so i'm not going to vouch on the political affiliation of any particular individual what have you seen the videos of chinese communist party members conducting training for tick tock and bite dance employees in china that's fake i do not know what you're referring to but what i can tell has that happened any decision has that happened sir i just said that i couldn't be able to tell you i haven't seen it i'm not sure what you're referring to but i'm happy to follow up but wait wait i'm sorry let's go back let's see if we can cut through the mumbo jumbo i'm asking you if the chinese communist party has conducted training sessions ever for employees of bite dance or tic toc yes or no not for tick tock tick tock the app does not operate in china we are so you have employees in china bite dance has employees in china listen we've been through this song so let's just skip that i've heard it all before i appreciate answer my question yes or no have they conducted training for bike dance employees or tick tock employees i can speak on behalf of tick tock and the answer is no no that's interesting do any tick tock employees based in china have access to u.s user data as we have publicly said yes we have engineers in china and but none of them are members of the chinese community we are working on the access controls to minimize that i've heard that i frankly i don't believe in the united states and through the city wait wait so your testimony is that you do have tick tock employees based in china who do have access to u.s user data but you're confident that none of them are members of the chinese communist party and ever accessed it is that anyone who has access to u.s user data has and does so to perform daily duties so if it is for the performance of site management um bug handling but we have strict controls in terms of who and how our data is accessed and none of them are none of that's accessible to any member of the chinese communist party is that your testimony we believe we have the strictest controls that's my question actually that's my question my question is are any mem does anyone who have access to user data are they members of the chinese communist party i feel like i've answered your question you haven't and i i feel like you're avoiding it at every opportunity right so let me give you another one since you're on on the record and on your own as clear as i would welcome you being clear thank you any person who has access to u.s user data are they members of the chinese communist party yes let me be clear again yes or no you for our u.s users the data is stored and housed in the united states we have access control you're not answering my point let the record reflect you will not answer my question why not any of that data it's overseen by our u.s led security team that's not the problem that's not my question that's not my question my question is does any employee who has access to u.s user data are they members of the chinese communist party and again as a global technology platform there is no other company that could make that assertion either that sounds like a yes to me that's i think that's news you're familiar i know with this buzzfeed article that says that more than according to more leaked audio for more than 80 internal tick tock meetings china-based employees of bite dance have repeatedly repeatedly accessed non-public data about u.s tick tock users everything is seen in china said a member of tick tock's trust and safety department in a september 2021 meeting and another september meeting a director referred to one beijing-based engineer as a master admin who has access to everything these reports show data was accessed far more frequently and recently than previously reported and your testimony is that this is false correct all of this is false that is correct so there are everything that you just stated there is no such thing as a master account at the that's how it says here someone is referred to as a master admin but you're telling me that china-based employees have never accessed non-public data of u.s tick-tock users no we've already said on the record that we have chinese employees who have access data well that's what this is saying so you agree if you want to clarify on each individual statement i'm saying that there is strict access controls around the data that is accessed in the united states that is overseen by our u.s led security team we are working with oracle that's not what this that's not what this article says we disagree with the categorization in that article wholeheartedly oh well here's the point i know the other senators who want to ask questions i think we're going to have a second round what the truth appears to be besides the fact that we can't get a straight answer on any of these questions is that you have hundreds of employees with appears access to u.s user data that may very well be members of the chinese communist party you have no way to assure me that they don't have access to our own to our citizens data and you won't answer my question in a straightforward way about whether a ccp member has ever gained access or not i think from my own point of view that's a huge security problem senator if i may we are one of the most highly scrutinized platforms there have been many cyber security experts who have researched our platforms including citizen lab which is a leading academic research unit based in the university of toronto who have said and i am happy to submit this for the record for the committee that our research shows that there is no overt data transmission to the chinese government by tick tock tick tock over teachers overseas do not pose a threat to national security wait wait a minute overt data transmission mrs papas this isn't a this isn't a hearing for you to testify at will you're here to answer questions i'm providing you with so no you're not you're just you're talking over me and you're submitting the information from who knows who funds this entity who knows who's behind it who knows what it contains i don't know what i do know is you won't give me straight answers to your to my questions and the reason i think is pretty clear because your company has a lot to hide you're a walking security nightmare and for every american who uses this app i'm concerned charlie thank you senator

Channel: Forbes Breaking News

Views: 732,782

Keywords: Sen. Josh Hawley, Chinese Communist Party, Senate

Id: meWM8d4Uz7Q

Length: 10min 26sec (626 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 14 2022