TikTok denies ties with China, U.S. lawmakers unconvinced

Social media app TikTok reiterated its independence from China as stressed on its letter sent to the U.S. lawmakers but failed to convince Senator Josh Hawley who spearheaded the hearing session on Tuesday on the security of U.S. citizens’ personal data.

ByteDance Ltd, which runs TikTok is a Chinese-based company that sent a letter to U.S. lawmakers stating that it hired a U.S.-based auditing firm to analyze TikTok data security practices.

“TikTok claims they don’t store American user data in China. That’s nice. But all it takes is one knock on the door of their parent company based in China from a Communist Party official for that data to be transferred to the Chinese government’s hands,” said Republican Hawley during the senate hearing.

In the letter signed by TikTok U.S. General Manager Vanessa Pappas, the company said it keeps all U.S. user data in the United Sates, with backup redundancy in Singapore.

Hawley asked for TikTok executives to testify before the hearing committee under oath. He also labeled the company ‘a threat to national security’.