To woo US legislators, TikTok brings its influencers

TikTok is ramping up a public relations campaign to fend off the possibility of a nationwide ban by United States President Joe Biden’s administration, and it is bringing some unconventional advocates to help: online influencers.

Dozens of TikTok creators – some with millions of followers on the video-sharing app – came to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lobby in favour of the platform, one day before legislators are slated to grill the company’s chief executive about concerns over user data falling into the hands of the Chinese government.

Shou Zi Chew plans to tell US Congress on Thursday that TikTok, which was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs and has 150 million American users, is committed to user safety, data protection and security as well as keeping the platform free from Chinese government influence.

He will also answer questions from US legislators worried about the social media platform’s effects on its young user base.

At the heart of TikTok’s trouble is a Chinese national intelligence law that would compel Chinese companies to fork over data to the government for whatever purposes it deems to involve national security. There is also concern Beijing might try to push pro-China narratives or misinformation through the platform.

At a media event coordinated by TikTok on Wednesday, some content creators acknowledged that concerns about data security are legitimate but pointed to precautions the company is taking. This includes a $1.5bn plan – dubbed Project Texas – to route all US data to domestic servers owned and maintained by the software giant Oracle.

TikTok has been attempting to sell that proposal to the Biden administration but sceptics have argued it does not go far enough. The administration is reportedly demanding the company’s Chinese owners sell their stakes or face a nationwide ban.

Janette Ok, a fashion and beauty influencer on TikTok, said in an interview on Wednesday that TikTok invited her to the lobbying event a few weeks ago and paid for her trip to Washington, DC.

She has been able to make a full-time career from her videos, earning income from partnerships with brands looking to capture the eyes of her 1.7 million followers. She said her popularity on TikTok has also allowed her to have other opportunities, like TV and commercial acting roles.

“I don’t know much about politics but I know a lot about fashion and I know a lot about people,” Ok said. “And just to be here and share my story is what TikTok has invited me to do.”

Tensions building

Tensions around TikTok have been building on Capitol Hill, reaching a boiling point late last year when a proposal to ban the app on government phones passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Biden.

Republicans in the House of Representatives are pushing a bill that would give Biden the power to ban the app.

Other bills have also been introduced – some bipartisan – including a measure that would circumvent the challenges the administration would face in court if it moved forward with sanctions against the social media company.

The effort to target TikTok is part of a larger, tougher approach Congress has taken in the past several months as China’s relationship with two US adversaries – Russia and Iran – has come into focus. A recent incident with a spy balloon forced even some wary congressional Democrats to join Republicans in opposition.

There is now a strong bipartisan concern in Washington, DC that Beijing would use legal and regulatory power to seize American user data or use TikTok to push favourable narratives or misinformation.

But the company has also gotten support from at least three progressive legislators who say they oppose a ban on the platform. At a news conference on Wednesday with the influencers, Representative Jamaal Bowman, a Democrat from New York, characterised the national security concerns that have been raised as xenophobic hysteria due to TikTok’s Chinese origins.

He said if Congress wants to have an “honest” conversation about data collection, it should focus on a national privacy law that includes all social media companies – not just TikTok.

“Usually, when there’s an issue of national security concern, they hold a bipartisan congressional briefing on that particular issue,” Bowman said. “We have not received a bipartisan congressional briefing on the national security risk of TikTok.”

Lobbying blitz

TikTok’s response to the political pressure can be seen all around the nation’s Capitol, with the company putting up ads in area airports and metro stations that include promises of securing users’ data and privacy as well as creating a safe platform for its young users.

Last year, the company spent more than $5.3m on dispatching lobbyists to the Hill to make its case, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks lobbying spending.

On Thursday, Chew, a 40-year-old Singaporean who was appointed CEO in 2021, will be sticking to a familiar script as he urges officials against pursuing an all-out ban on TikTok or for the company to be sold off to new owners.

TikTok’s efforts to ensure the security of its users’ data go “above and beyond” what any of its rivals are doing, according to Chew’s prepared remarks released ahead of his appearance before the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

“Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew will say.

He will distance TikTok from its Chinese roots and deny the “inaccurate” belief that TikTok’s corporate structure makes it “beholden to the Chinese government”. ByteDance has evolved into a privately held “global enterprise,” Chew will say, with 60 percent owned by big institutional investors, 20 percent owned by the Chinese entrepreneurs who founded it and the rest by employees.

It’s “emphatically untrue” that TikTok sends data on its American users to Beijing, he will say.

“TikTok has never shared or received a request to share, US user data with the Chinese government,” Chew will say. “Nor would TikTok honour such a request if one were ever made.”

A TikTok ban, according to Chew’s released remarks, would hurt the US economy and small US businesses that use the app to sell their products, while reducing competition in an “increasingly concentrated market”.

Chew will add that a sale “would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access”.