Well, with a full app ban by way of an executive order already being threatened in the United States, everything seems to depend on TikTok's CEO Shou Zi Chew testifying before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce this week, an exercise that will give TikTok an opportunity to argue out their case and convince the senators that TikTok doesn't threaten national security after all.

But he will have his work cut out for him - with rising US/China tensions, and reports of staff from parent company ByteDance stalking US journalists, and revelations of retrospective user data stores, it does seem like TikTok is destined for sanctions, one way or another. Add to this the growing concerns over China's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which were further heightened this week when Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and the signs all point to the US making a move on TikTok, one way or another.

Whether that's a forced sell-off – which would require the approval of the CCP – or an outright ban, TikTok, right now, feels like it's on the edge.

And today, the House Energy Committee has published Shou Zi Chew's pre-prepared testimony, in which he outlines the argument he will make when standing before the Senate this week.

Opening his argument is Chew, who focused his words on the benefits brought about by TikTok in the US, particularly its use for small businesses. Moreover, Chew also includes a few notes on the broader usage of TikTok as follows:

"Over 150 million people in the United States use TikTok monthly, and today's average user is an adult well past college age. Their videos provide lenses through which the rest of the world can enjoy American culture, be it American musicians like artists who create TikToks like artists, who share our favorite chefs along with lots more. That while using in the USA constitutes about 10% of global community, "the 10% of a US citizens accounts for "25%" of total viewing".

It's interesting to note the average user age, as per Chew's example here, which is likely older than many would expect.

Chew then outlines the key concerns about TikTok, as communicated to him by US officials:

Minor safety
Data privacy and security
Real-world harms from online activities
The risk of foreign content manipulation
Chew then outlines TikTok's various efforts to provide protection for minors, and limit exposure to harmful trends.

But the big one is obviously data privacy and the concern that China-based staff might be spying on US users.

On this aspect, Chew gives a brief overview of 'Project Texas', which sees TikTok route all US user data through US-based Oracle servers.

"Project Texas is an unprecedented effort to safeguard both U.S. user data and U.S. national security interests. The initiative addresses key issues in corporate governance, content recommendation and moderation, data security, and system access. It's a comprehensive package of measures with layers of independent oversight that protects against the possibility of backdoors in TikTok that could be used to manipulate the platform or access U.S. user-protected data.

The project, which has already cost TikTok over $1.5 billion, will eventually see all US user data kept in the US, and according to Chew, will ensure that it's not accessible by Chinese staff.
"Currently, 100 percent of U.S. user traffic is being routed to Oracle and USDS-controlled infrastructure in the United States.". USDS runs our recommendation system for users in the United States, which dictates what shows up in For You feed, on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Oracle also has already started reviewing TikTok's source code and will have access to all the algorithms and data models related to it. No other social media company or entertainment platform like TikTok offers this level of access and transparency.

Chew also points out that historical US user data held in non-Oracle servers will be deleted later this year.

While, as mentioned earlier, TikTok has seen its trust on this score dented by the revelation of ByteDance employees spying on US journalists through the use of TikTok location data to correlate their movements.

Chew does address this incident directly too:

"Another important part of being a responsible steward of user data is owning up to our mistakes and making changes to address them. That's why we promptly took action, including a companywide disclosure, when we learned late last year that certain (now former) employees had accessed TikTok user data in an unsuccessful and misguided attempt to trace the source of a leak of confidential TikTok information.". We also informed this Committee of these ill-advised actions within minutes of informing our employees. I condemn this misconduct in the strongest possible terms." 

In his closing arguments, Chew says that he doesn't think a full ban of TikTok will solve the issues or concerns at hand, while it will impact US users.

Chew also pledges that TikTok will not share US user data with Chinese officials:

"TikTok has never shared, or received a request to share, U.S. user data with the Chinese government. Nor would TikTok honor such a request if one were ever made. Indeed, a 2021 report from Citizen Lab, an internationally renowned security research laboratory, found that there was no overt data transmission by TikTok to the Chinese government and that TikTok did not contact any servers within China."

It's a tough sale, given the examples of the data that TikTok has access to, and ways in which its staff at least attempted to use such for ill purpose. Still, Chew will be hopeful that his arguments will succeed in convincing US lawmakers not to go too hard on the app, and continue to let it operate with these provisos in place.

But it's going to be Chew's answers to pointed questioning that will be pivotal, and that can quickly get out of hand. Which might not even be Chew's fault, anyway, given the way social media CEOs have been questioned in the past, with all sorts of unrelated questions that get tossed at them by politicians who don't really know much about technology.

Chew will be placed under a spotlight, and his responses will decide the fate that might see TikTok cut off from its entry into the American market.

And if the US puts a ban on TikTok, other regions will do the same. That's not a sure bet on a ban, though, but Chew's written testimony doesn't do much in providing new assurance.