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

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Daily News, News, Politics

4.4 • 25.7K 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.

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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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