TikTok CEO Shou Chew defends Chinese app in heated US Congress hearing – live

Committee has now gone into recess

“We do not promote or remove any content on behalf of the Chinese government,” he told congressman Randy Weber. “There is content on TikTok that is critical of China.”

Mr Weber told him that TikTok was “indoctrinating our children with woke propaganda.”

“My time is up and if this committee gets its way TikTok’s time is up,” the politician added.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew told Rep John Joyce, from Pennsylvania, that no government devices should have TikTok or any other social media app.

“I disagree with that characterisation. I think the government devices should have no social media apps to be honest, not just targeted at us.”

He was then asked if he let his under 13 children to use TikTok.

“This experience does not exist in Singapore. If my children lived here then yes,” he told the politician.

Kimberly Merle Schrier, a congresswoman from Washington, asks what TikTok has done to make itself less addictive for teenagers.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew said that they had implemented a 60-minute opt-out for children and that there was a control for parents to set a time limit.

“People come to our platform for a very informative experience,” he told her.

The politician, a trained paediatrician, hit back saying that “20 per cent” of material on the app was “misinformation” and a lot of content glorified eating disorders.

“Anything that glorifies eating disorders we remove from our platform,” he told her.

“I share your concerns and I commit to doing more,” he told her

TikTok CEO Shou Chew dodged a question from GOP Rep Debbie Lesko on whether the Chinese government had persecuted the Uyghur population.

Mr Chew demurred, explaining that TikTok offers users an opportunity to speak out on a number of issues. He also expressed concern about human rights abuses in general, but did not directly respond to the question.

Rep Neal Dunn, Republican of Florida, asked CEO Shou Chew whether TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has ever spied on American citizens at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party.

“No,” Mr Chew said, which set off a tense exchange with the congressman. Mr Chew concluded by saying the lawmaker did not offer him a chance to respond to his multiple quesetions.

Rep Marc Veasey, a Democrat from Texas, called TikTok “the world’s most powerful and extensive propaganda machine” and raised concerns about his 16-year-old daughter’s interest in the app.

“Teens don’t want to be on Facebook. They want your platform,” he said, adding that CEO Shou Chew’s “evasiveness” during the hearing “disturbs me”.

We’re back underway with five minutes of questions from Congressman Cardenas from California, who addresses the “life and death issues” at stake.

He asks about the death threat to Chairwoman Rodgers that was up for 41 days, and only taken down when it was brought to Mr Chew’s attention during the hearing.

The TikTok CEO responds: “It goes to show the enormous challenge that we have to make sure that although the vast majority of users come for a good experience, we need to make sure that bad actors don’t pose violative content.”