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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee, questioned TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a hearing focused on the social media company’s national security concerns and issues protecting children and teens.

During her line of questioning, Trahan pushed for the TikTok executive to commit to increasing transparency and extending many of the protections currently afforded to children in the United Kingdom to younger users in the U.S. as well. Mr. Chew declined to commit to either, instead promising to follow up on the requests.

Footage of Trahan’s line of questioning and witness answers can be accessed by clicking HERE or the image below. A full transcript of the exchange is included below.

Prior to the hearing, Trahan published an op-ed in the Boston Globe titled “Congress Should Target Tiktok But Not Let Us Social Media Companies Off The Hook,” where she outlined her position on the app. Trahan had also met with Chew prior to today’s hearing where they discussed these same topics.

Trahan, a long-time advocate for academic researcher data access, has introduced the Digital Services Oversight and Safety Act, comprehensive transparency legislation that would require large technology companies like TikTok to comply with reporting requirements on the harms that exist on their platforms. She also spoke out against Twitter’s recent moves to rescind researcher data access, a step back in the push for increased transparency from large technology companies. 

 

Trahan, a mom to two young girls, has also repeatedly pushed for social media companies to take responsibility for the harm they cause our children, including previously questioning Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg about their companies’ efforts to target children to further grow their platforms’ usership.

 

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Congresswoman Lori Trahan

Hearing Remarks as Delivered

Hearing on “TikTok: How Congress Can Safeguard American Data Privacy and Protect Children from Online Harms”

March 23, 2023

 

TRAHAN:  Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Chew, many Big Tech CEOs have sat where you are seated today and tried to run out the clock during a hearing like this one. They were trained not to answer our questions and wait for the news cycle to pass so they could go back to business as usual. Those same executives want this moment – TikTok’s moment under the microscope – to distract Congress and the American people from the very real issues that exist on their platforms.

You have an opportunity to turn the tables on them. While U.S.-based social media giants have regressed on protections for children and teens, on protecting our data privacy, and on embracing transparency, you can lead – and you should lead.

Last month, you announced that TikTok would expand access to its researcher API, but I’m concerned that your new policy could be more bark than bite – that it won’t actually lead to the rigorous research that we as lawmakers and that parents and everyday TikTok users need. In fact, your terms of service demand that researchers delete their data at TikTok’s unilateral direction. It puts onerous restrictions on how researcher’s findings can be published. And it only allows access to public data – which researchers already have access to within the app.

In order to actually address the content moderation and algorithmic amplification concerns that my colleagues have raised here today and that I’ve heard directly from parents in my home state of Massachusetts about independent researchers – not just other tech companies like Oracle – need to be able to evaluate how TikTok’s algorithm is making decisions to promote content.

Mr. Chew, will you commit to expanding your API to include data that would let researchers investigate how your algorithm is pushing content to users – whether it’s showing up on your For You page, the hashtag page, or somewhere else?

CHEW: One of the commitments I gave in the opening statement is a commitment to transparency and third-party monitoring. So Congresswoman, I will look into the details of that and get back to you.

TRAHAN: And as well as the algorithm, including data on what types of users were targeted by the algorithm so that researchers can fully understand what content is being prioritized and who it’s being pushed to?

CHEW: Again, we have a commitment to transparency. These are very important questions, and I will get back to you on the specifics. 

TRAHAN: Under this same proposal, you require that researchers give TikTok “worldwide, free, non-exclusive, and perpetual” rights to their papers. This threatens to clash directly with well-established practices of exclusive publication rights in research journals. Mr. Chew, why does TikTok need those rights?

CHEW: I would need to get back to you on those specifics if that’s okay.

TRAHAN: Yes, I don’t see how we can expect researchers to do their work under these terms and then tout transparency.

I’m going to shift gears with the time I have remaining, Mr. Chew. I’d like to talk about TikTok’s efforts to protect children and young users. In 2021, the UK’s Age Appropriate Design Code went into effect – mandating 15 standards that companies like you need to follow to protect children on your platform.

You still operate in the United Kingdom, which means you should be in compliance with this code. So, my question is simple. Will you commit to extending the protections currently afforded children in the UK to the millions of kids and teens who use your app here in the United States? 

CHEW: We take the safety of the younger users on our platform very seriously.

TRAHAN: This is a good way to prove it.

CHEW: Every country is a little bit different in context, so let me look at the specifics and bring some of the best practices across the world.

TRAHAN: Well those best practices are being executed around the world. We just want the same for our kids here in the United States.

I mean, Mr. Chew, when we spoke a couple of weeks ago, you indicated interest in taking steps to earn trust, our trust. And, to me, it hasn’t happened today so far. But rather you’ve ducked behind industry standards and comparables to your competitors, which we know are woefully insufficient.

I strongly urge you to consider these terms, these commitments. Make the case for why you’re different from your American competitors, and do better than them on transparency, which you’ve mentioned countless times today but which we don’t really have anything tangible to point to.

CHEW: Yes, I don’t want to make excuses for our industry or ourselves. I think there is a lot of work that needs to be done. We take this very seriously. Nothing is not perfect. We need to keep investing to stay ahead of our growth. I agree that we need to prioritize safety and continue to do that as part of our company. 

TRAHAN: Well, I’ll look forward to getting back your comments and your commitments and those updated terms of services when you write back to the committee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I yield back.

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