WATCH: Ted Cruz Grills TikTok Exec Over Company’s Ties To Chinese Communist Party, Exec Refuses To Answer The Questions (VIDEO)
Last week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sparred with a TikTok official about whether the video-sharing platform’s privacy policy grants the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ data.
Mr. Cruz accused TikTok Vice President Michael Beckerman of asking “gotcha questions” during a Senate hearing, to which Cruz responded that Mr. Beckerman was behaving as if he were “hiding something.”
Mr. Cruz repeatedly pressed Mr. Beckerman on whether the ambiguous language in TikTok’s privacy policy enabled the company’s China-based owner ByteDance and its affiliates to obtain information about users on the platform. Mr. Beckerman declined to respond with a yes or no and instead attempted to discuss how TikTok utilizes data.
“You’re refusing to answer the question, that does not give this committee any confidence that TikTok is doing anything other than participating in Chinese propaganda and espionage on American children,” Mr. Cruz stated.
“Senator, that’s not accurate,” Mr. Beckerman replied.
“If it were not accurate you would answer the questions,” interrupted Mr. Cruz. “And you have dodged the questions more than any witness I have seen in my nine years serving in the Senate. That is saying something because witnesses often try to dodge questions but you answer [in] nonsequiturs and refuse to answer very simple questions that, in my experience, when a witness does that it is because they are hiding something.”
American lawmakers have long expressed concern that TikTok users’ data is at risk of falling into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party as a result of China’s military-civil fusion policies, which remove barriers between the Chinese government and the private sector, including companies like ByteDance.
Mr. Cruz referenced August media reports stating that the Chinese government acquired a minority share in a ByteDance firm and appointed a communist official to its board of directors.
When asked if TikTok may exchange information with the ByteDance business in accordance with its policies, Mr. Beckerman declined.
“Senator, I want to be clear that that entity has no affiliation with TikTok,” Mr. Beckerman stated to Mr. Cruz. “It’s based for domestic licenses of a business in China that [is] not affiliated or connected to TikTok.”
>>Get your limited edition Joe Biden Chef BOYAREWEF*CKED T-shirt here!
Mr. Cruz then continually pressed Mr. Beckerman and was unsatisfied with his responses.
“I’ve asked you three times about this sister company that is obviously another affiliate, you’ve refused three times — that may be revealing,” he said. “Often, as Sherlock Holmes observed about the dogs that do not bark, it may be revealing that the Chinese propaganda minister that is serving on your sister company and who’s been in the business of online propaganda, you’re refusing to answer whether they fall under your privacy policy that reveals, I think, a great deal.”
Legislators are not the only ones conducting investigations into TikTok’s practices. The government of former President Trump sought to prohibit TikTok’s app through an executive order restricting dealings with ByteDance.
President Biden rescinded those executive directives earlier this year and replaced them with new ones establishing a framework for risk analysis in technology services transactions involving foreign adversaries such as China.
>>Subscribe to The Scoop’s email newsletter!
The Scoop’s editorial independence has never been more critical than it is now. Because no one sets our agenda or edits our editor, we are able to consistently offer high-impact, trustworthy content. We can report freely on international events and confront those in power since we are not influenced by economic or political interests.
Subscribe now — it only takes 5 seconds. Many thanks.
