WASHINGTON - TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew tried to allay mounting national security concerns about the Chinese-owned video app but encountered open hostility Thursday in his first appearance before Congress, a five-hour thrashing that underscored the popular app's precarious future in the United States.
Lawmakers from both parties sought to tie Chew personally to the Chinese Communist Party, frequently interrupted him and called him "evasive." While he pledged to safely steward the data of American users and shield TikTok from foreign manipulation, lawmakers from both parties criticized TikTok, without evidence, as a tool of China's Communist government.
