A congressional TikTok smackdown
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2023
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
TikTok’s CEO faced bruising questioning in US Congress over the social media app’s links to its Chinese parent company ByteDance, short seller Hindenburg Research has accused payments group Block of artificially inflating its user numbers and facilitating fraudulent transactions, and the wipeout of $17bn of Credit Suisse bonds has sparked panic among rich Asian investors who had loaded up on the risky bank debt.
Mentioned in this podcast:
TikTok chief faces hostile Congress in bid to fight off US ban
Hindenburg Research shorts Jack Dorsey’s payments group Block
Asia investors ‘gobsmacked’ by $17bn Credit Suisse bond wipeout
Crypto fugitive Do Kwon arrested in Montenegro, says interior minister
Credit: Cash App Music Video Compilation (Hindenburg Research)
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The FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson and Marc Filippino. The show’s editor is Jess Smith. Additional help by Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s executive producer. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show’s theme song is by Metaphor Music.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The FT News Briefing is supported by Equinole, the UK's energy partner. |
| 0:06.3 | Learn more at equinole.co.uk |
| 0:10.3 | Good morning from the Financial Times. |
| 0:11.8 | Today is Friday, March 24th, and this is your FT News Briefing. |
| 0:18.9 | TikTok CEO got clobbered by US lawmakers at a congressional hearing. |
| 0:23.4 | Hindenburg Research is added again with another high profile short, |
| 0:27.6 | and the fallout from the UBS Credit Suisse Deal hit investors in Asia, particularly hard. |
| 0:33.1 | Buked to one private banker who said they hadn't slept in days |
| 0:37.5 | because they were just fielding calls from people who were asking what's going on here. |
| 0:41.3 | I'm Mark Philippineau, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:44.0 | US lawmakers grilled the CEO of TikTok during a congressional hearing yesterday. |
| 0:58.8 | They're concerned that the social media platforms linked to its Chinese parent company |
| 1:02.8 | Byte Dance could be a danger to national security. |
| 1:06.2 | Here's TikTok Chief Executive Shochu. |
| 1:09.2 | Our approach has never been to dismiss or trivialize any of these concerns. |
| 1:14.1 | We have addressed them with real action, building what amounts to a firewall. |
| 1:19.6 | The hearing comes as US authorities are asking Byte Dance to sell its stake in the US |
| 1:24.5 | arm of the company. |
| 1:25.8 | Here's the FT's Hannah Murphy on what Shochu told lawmakers. |
| 1:30.4 | So look, he tried to reassure them repeatedly that |
| 1:35.3 | death is that TikTok might be weaponized by the Chinese Communist Party for espionage purposes, |
| 1:41.2 | for propaganda purposes, were unwarranted, that in fact Byte Dance and TikTok are very |
... |
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