TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was questioned in a U.S. government hearing on Thursday over the relationship between the fast-growing social media platform and its Chinese parent company, Douyin.
In Chew’s pre-written opening statement, the executive cited a report from internet watchdog Citizen Lab, saying that “there was no overt data transmission by TikTok to the Chinese government and that TikTok did not contact any servers within China.”
According to Citizen Lab director Ron Diebert, this is a misrepresentation of what the report found.
When Chew’s testimony was published before the hearing, Deibert took to Twitter with a statement, expressing his disappointment with how this research was misconstrued.
