TikTok CEO Heads To The Hill As Congress Mulls A Total Ban

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2023

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew is set to address the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday and is expected to tout the company's billion-dollar restructuring effort to build a firewall between its Chinese owner and the data of the app's 150 million U.S. users. Lawmakers of both parties — having previously shied away from regulating U.S. tech giants — are laser-focused on the app as part of a broader effort to curb a perceived threat from China.

This episode: political correspondent Susan Davis, tech reporter Bobby Allyn, and senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro.

The podcast is produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. It is edited by Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Research and fact-checking by Devin Speak.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Devon and Esme.
0:04.3	We are awake in the middle of the night because Esme is nine months old and teething.
0:11.3	This podcast was recorded at 11.32 a.m. on Wednesday, March 22nd.
0:17.8	Things may have changed by the time you hear this, but hopefully we will have gotten some sleep.
0:23.8	Okay, here's the show.
0:26.4	As someone who is living that regularly, myself, the best tip I can give you is
0:33.3	Motrin, Motrin, Motrin.
0:35.3	Takes me too far back.
0:36.8	Hey, there. It's the MPR Politics podcast. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics.
0:41.9	And I'm Dominic Amatson, our Senior Political Editor and correspondent.
0:44.9	And Bobby Allen is here with us today. He covers Tech for MPR. Hey, Bobby.
0:48.7	Hey, guys.
0:50.0	So Tiktok's Chief Executive is preparing to testify this week before a House Committee.
0:55.1	Comes as Congress is considering tougher regulations and maybe even an outright ban
1:00.6	against the popular social media company.
1:03.0	We're obviously going to talk about the issues here, but Bobby, can you explain first
1:07.3	how big of a reach Tiktok has in the US?
1:11.1	It's really hard to overstay it. I mean, Tiktok was the most downloaded app in the world last year in America.
1:16.9	The CEO just gave a new step.
1:19.9	His name is Shouzi Chu.
1:21.8	And he said there are 150 million monthly users of Tiktok just in the US.
1:27.8	So that's like half the country is pretty incredible.
	...

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