China and the tech industry have an admittedly complicated relationship. For one, a number of influential tech companies build nearly all of their products in China, and dozens of incredibly popular apps are subsidiaries of Chinese companies. To make matters even more complex, trade wars and human rights violations continue to make business relationships strained at best. Now, one senator in particular is digging into these ties between China and the tech industry, and it resulted in a pretty one-sided hearing.
What was the Senate hearing about?
The hearing — exhaustingly titled “How Corporations and Big Tech Leave Our Data Exposed to Criminals, China, and Other Bad Actors” — was chaired by Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), who has become the tech industry’s most pointed critic in recent months. He’s introduced a number of bills aiming to fight everything from social media addiction to bias against conservatives, which has drawn him quite a bit of criticism from the rest of his colleagues on Capitol Hill. Hawley took the opportunity at the hearing to lay out, as clear as day, his thoughts on the relationship between China and the tech industry, specifically TikTok and Apple, who were asked to be in attendance by the subcommittee. And he cited everyone’s least favorite social media CEO in the process. Once he had everyone’s attention, Hawley didn’t hold back when it came to TikTok’s Chinese parent company, launching into a diatribe similar to that of a 1980s anti-drug commercial. All that grandstanding, tragically, fell on deaf ears though, as the guests of honor were not present for the hearing at all.
Were TikTok and Apple in attendance?
Before the Tuesday afternoon hearing, TikTok and Apple respectfully declined the invitation to appear before the subcommittee. Apple neglected to respond at all, while ByteDance — TikTok’s Chinese parent company — cited the lack of notice for their inability to show up. TikTok did, however, provide a statement from general manager Vanessa Pappas to set the record straight on how the popular social media platform operates in regards to its Chinese ownership. While that statement may sound convincing, it’s hardly a far reach to question the motives of a tech company in 2019. The industry has been fraught with security breaches and data scandals, spurring antitrust investigations on what feel like a weekly basis. And considering China’s questionable track record when it comes to tech, it’s safe to assume the worst when it comes to these kind of security threats.
Is China that much of a security threat?
Senator Josh Hawley would certainly have you believe they are, as he made abundantly clear in response to TikTok’s statement at the hearing on Tuesday. The thing is, he’s not entirely wrong. From censoring search results to questionable data practices, the country has hardly garnered much trust when it comes to the security of personal information. Plus with over 1 billion users — 60% of whom are between the age of 16 and 24 — TikTok could represent a serious weak spot for online security if China does decide to stick its hand in the user data cookie jar. Read more of the latest tech news on Tech.co
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