that you mention. now, the whole discussion on.b%% this -- the resolution of this is an ongoing and developing fá event. we'll continue to pay attention to this and we'll get backçó to you when we have more specifics. >> so, if it's an ÷uájjt debate,i] apparently, with chin so it'sfáq hard to say with any certainty that china would not have any influence. but let me ask another question. so, last fall along withfá chai and co-chair of the subcommittee

together, we're told that tiktok had surveilled -- was involved inçó surveillancei] ofi] ñiuser personal information. you might say, well, not more than other companies. i agree with ranking member pallone that i really don't want to go byht+at standard,f:w particularly, but tiktok'sokñi i browser surveilled everything passwords and credit card numbers, et cetera.lpi]t(jft( i want tot( ask you ifçó tiktok >> thank you for asking this question. as you point out, we do not believe we collect more data

f8company out there.e1ñifáó[■ a lot of these reports, andfá w can talk about which specific one you're talking about, a lot of them are not thatfá accurate. touchxd with the authors tui] h them understand theq data we're collecting. a lot is speculation. do. they could do. if you look at the subtext, this is something any company would do. >> i'm running out of time. let me just say if tiktok chose note1 to takeq the -- this sensitive information that you don't need for transaction and support our comprehensive privacy bill, that would be very helpful. the other thing i wanted to ask, sot( really this is a yes or no. that that tiktok --e1qçó does t share userq information from companies --@#aázok parent companies, from affiliated or

overseas? forçóe1 interopability purposes. after project texas, all u.s. protected data will be stored protected data will be stored here with acce)g special team of u.s.r agù1ñ e1congresswoman, this is something, as far as i understand, no other company, including american companies, so, maybe thisñi ist( somethingt we can ask the industry to provide, not just us, toxd -- >>ñr in the case of sharing information, i want to quote from employees thatlpe1 you had that -- and here's the quote. everythingiárjlp seen in china, really what they çósaid. people who were in touch with the sensitive data were saying that. how do you respond to that? >> i disagree with that

statement. >> well, i know you disagree with that statement. my point is, how does that happen that employees of thet( of the companyñi are saying tha in fact, that'ssv >> i cannot speak to -- i don't k]ow who this p cannot speak to what the person has or has not said. what i can say is based on my position in this company and the ity that i have, that ot true.ñi >> unfortunately, and i'll time. we need tulp look into the fact of 4rns and so do you. and i yield back.qxd >> gentle lady yields back. chair recognizes the lady fromç florida forxd five minutes. >> thank çóyou, madam chairwoma. are you aware of chairman xi jinping's comments infá may 202 during a communisti] bureau stu session where he instructedlp colleagues to target different

countries, different audiences with short-form ñ,qqjñ are youe1ok aware of these comm? yes or no. >> congresswoman, i'm not aware of these comments. >> as was pointed out by chairwoman rodgers, you have regular contact with chinese boss at bytedance, correct? >>lpñr no. >> no? >> he's not my boss nor doxd we have regular contact. with bytedance. ith the ceo of i]byq >> who isq -- mr. t(zheng is th editor-in-chief. my colleague burgesslp said ìáh% bytedance shares legal teams and you confirmed w3this. >> a american -- >> my colleague confirmed your parent company, t(6a,ce, #pf ac yes? >> we have to bet( more specifi >> yes?ok >> after project -- >>ñi i'm not asking after proje p r(t&háhpú3 i'm asking now.ñi

ye/z >> some user data is public w3 data. >> what's interesting to me is you have used the word transparency over half a dozen times in your opening testimony and again in answers toñi mye1 colleagues. the interesting thing to me is bytedance, your parent company, has goneok out of their way to hide and air brush corporate structure, ties to the ccp, the company's founder and their can you look no further than thó fact that the bytedance website has been scrubbed. in fact, we found web pages from the beijing internet association, the industry association charged with communist party buildingñi worki internet companies in beijing.w3 they have been archived but since deleted. makes you wonder why. yeuju no, bytedance is required to have a member of the chinese government on its board with veto power. is that correct? >> çóno, that is not correct. bytedance owns some chineseñyó businesses. you're talkingjf about a very special subsidiary for chinese business -- >> mr. chew, i have to move on.

you said repeatedly there is no threat. this is a platform for entertainment andxd fun. if there's no threat to americans, if there's no threat to our data, privacy security, why did an internal memo from tiktok corporate headquarter[3 explicitly coach senior management xdto, quote, xdçódow why would they say,çó downplay ai? this is>xáz an internal memo from your company. why, if you had nothing to hide, would yout( need to downplaye1 associamézn with bytedance in china? >> congresswoman, iok haven't seenxd -- >> you can't answer that question. i would like to direct your attention to the screen for a short video, if you don't mind.d ¿9mdsokr

>> mr. xdshou, that videoe1 was posted 41 daysçó ago. it's captioned me on march 23rd of thisxd year.lp this hearing was published beforeçóx started. it names this chairwoman by name. your own community guidelines state that youxd haveñi a firm stance againstxd enablingxd vioe on or off tiktok. we do not allow people to use our platform to threatenr incite violence or tnó promote violence extremist organizations

or xdacts. safety or an account is used to promote or glorify off-platform violence, we ban the ñraccount. this video has been up for 41 days. it'si] a direct threat to the ]=59■ of this committee and yet itñi remains on the platfor. you expect us to believe that you are capable of maintaining the datañi security -- privacy d security of 150 million americans whereçó you can't eve protect the people in this room? i think that is a blatant display of how vulnerable people who use tiktok are. 41 days when a clear threat of, a very violent threat of the chairwoman of this comeitáee and members of this committee were posted on your platform. you damn well know that you cannot protect theñrw3 data and security of this committee or the 150 millionñr users of your app becausec it is an extension of the ccp. with that, i yield back.

>> can i respond? chair? >> we're going to move on. gentle lady yields back.ñiokçó chairwoman recognizes the lady from californw!y mrs. matsui, for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. i'm glad we're having this kpcmportant hearing here today. make no mistake, the chinese government represents a year and immediate threat. look no further than even theçó vulnerable gear still in our telecom networks thatñi needs t be ripped and okreplaced. but we can't lose sight of the important governance tiktok and other social mediaa5■ companies represent. i'm especially committed to demanding çótransparency from large platforms about the algorithms that shape our online jju that shape our young teenagers and users.

that'sçóñiñrçó whye1çó iñi intr to bring greater transparency into this ecosystem. my bill would require --ñr woul prohibit algorithms thath■ gender ability and other protected it alsoxd would establish a safy ande1 effectiveness standard fo algorithms for requiringlp new forms of u■oversight. ék]1ñ this bill would require online platforms to publish their contentxd moderationq ñi practices, which i believe should be a baseline requirement çoversightñi and consumer choice. mr. chew, yes or no, doa5■ you believe a requirement for annual content moderation practices for social medialp platforms would beneficial? yes or no?w3

>> yes. >> this transparency bill would also require online platforms to maintain detailed records m■ for review by the federal trade commission in jtt withfái] privacyysñ )&ñqa5■d identification standards.i] mr. chew, does tiktokq currentl maintain recordsc describing their algorithmic processes, yes or e1no? >> i would need to check and get back to you on what specific records you ask. >> i'll wait for that. over the last few yearsé@■ alarg information brought to light by whistle-blowers have shown social media companies are intimatelye1 aware of the effec on youngñr $x■women, political extremismi] and more. despite this, they withheld tpt investigate further. in either ci&;, it shows a behavior that i find concerning e%qmzuez studies onf

itsw3 algorithms and content on ip dáal health and safety? if so, how and when are those findings maybe 7ñelic? if ñrnot, do you believe they'r necessary? >> congresswoman, we rely on their research to help us understand some of these4sissue. for example, we worked at the digital wellness lab at boston children's hospital to m9ñ we are supportive offá legislatn thati] provides more funding fo research, for example, like the nih. recommended content based on user activity to encourage people to spend more time on the app. this practice is by no means unique to tiktok given the prevalence of young users and the digestible nature of short-form video. i'm concerned about the app'sñi

tendency to exacerbate mental health challenges. mr. fáchew, does tiktok havexd different policies for amplifying content thatfá woulde related toc depressionñi or dieg versus content likeñrlp gardeni and sports? if yes, describe these policy differences. if no, why not? >> xdcongresswoman, thank you f the -- this is a greatnvñquesti. the answer qis, yes. we are trying out some policies together with experts to understand certain content not inherently harmful. like extreme fitness but!u■ sho these are models we're building andfá we're trying to understan with experts how best to implement them as cross thezv■ñ platform, particularly under 18. >> where users have been engaging with potentially harmful d imperative that the app take steps to moderauq that behavior rather than continuing to promote it. in a sense --

>> i apologize. i wasn't al.i9ñ first,ñit(qfá anything that is violative and harmful we remove. content thatfá is not inherentl harmful. )qqj%é(uá people runnin miles, it's not inherently harmful but if we show them too much experts tell them we shot)" disperse them and makefá sureñi 1e■ by younger users. >> so it's interest -- >> we're working on it. >> you've been listening to the ceo of tiktok testifying on capitol h intense xdfábipartisanw3 criticd questioning from lawmakers. we'llñfx'tinu for ñiyou. bring you back there live. want to show you what's happening withtthe markets as *. the s&p 500 up 1.7% has now recovered all of the post-fed losses we saw yesterday. the nasdaq's in the lead.

tech stocks?;■ are roaring, up 2.4%. you have every sectorr bonds are getting bought, lower yields.lp potentially delayed reaction to powell and the federal reserve implying that they'reçó almost done if not done raising rates. >> it's not just that. technology is a huge focusi@xigt on capitol hillñi but also becae you have some ofxd the stocksxdt make up the bulk of the nasdaq weighting, like metaxd platform that owns facebook andjfu■ instagram. their at session highs. if you look at the technologyz( trade, it's noti] just apple, w3 microsoft. it's not social media stocks seeing real e1t(upside. ñ$ñ perhaps gives you a little bit of ant(q idea thatq muscle memory is still at play right now. when there's a sizeable dip in some oflp thesei] technology st that there seems to be açó buy e dip mentality. the question is how long does it last with the interest rate picture the way it is now.

we're seeing sessions highs. by the fáway,fá netflix stock,f 9%. best day of the year in 2023 so far. little bit ofr bullishxd mentality around when there is a discount or sale, if you will, on some of these stocks. >> right. hope that the federal reserve will cut, even though powell did not. >> which markets are pricing in. >> he did talke1 about the impa thislp banking contagion could have on the real economy with tighter lending growth. he mentioned it a lot yesterday ins his news conference suggesting they're worriedi] abp the impact of the economy here. the question is, do we rally -- do we rally on lower interest rates if that's been a big headwind? certainly the longçó duration th stockm@÷are. or do we start to wondere1 how hard the economy's going to geì% hitlp as a result of everything that's happened? >> fed chairñ powell made an q%91ñ they don't know what it is, but that itçó coulde1 ha the effects of the banking crisisñi in concertjf with

everything else that's happening right now, could have brg macro economicçóçóçóçó implications. if the data starts to show there are those implications, it would change fed policy going forward. all of that in context with the overall market right now. the hearings arer variablexd beingi] interjected t now. there seems to be, again, this feeling thatu÷ tech stockse1 ma in the process ofq bottomi.y■ o if the interest rate markets are correct if that there ise1 pricg in w3of, perhaps, cuts down the line. >> certainly semicond% ector. it's a broad rally. we see energy stocks join. even reits, which everyone is so worried about the real estate market with offices and lending are participating in the rally today. let'sñi talk more tiktok and brg in one of the platform's staunchest opponents. he sees only two options for the u.s., either a total ban of tiktok ori] divestiture from an entity beholden to the chinese

communist party. with us is fcct( brendan carr.xd you've been on the regulatory front talking about tiktok as a surveillance app.çó what have you heard? >> i think it's going poorly for tiktok. obviously they weree1 in the ho going into this.fá there was aqr i think it continues to move in the wronge1 direction. there have been early stumbles inxd the hearing early on. this morning there was a story where tiktok testified in the written testimony they citedxd@o this citizen lab study ase1 data back to china and the authors came back and said, that's not at all what our study found. we told yout( repeatedly not to what we've seen in the hearing is bipartisan interest where republicans andt( demwnqm■ are tough questions for tiktok.xdfá >>q butfá what doeçi it amount

commissioner? it? the trump administration has tried. there are some legal complications. >> yeah. look, i think one of theñi most oints on that in the hearing so far, you hadxd democrat ranking member pallone take square on this project texas idea that tiktok has been trying to sell to the u.s. government as an alternative to ai] ban or divestiture andlp pae said, basically, that he doesn't have alp lot of confidence in project texas. that's a uniquexi#velopment from the hearing. thatxd reinforces what we've ha out of the white house. you had reports that they're divestiture or theyxd might faca possible ban. one news piece is decreasing confidence that project texas qorájut ÷ i think that puts us where we started, whiche1 really is a ba or divestiture. we've donee1 divestiture, app ok

there was rómp administration asking toxd ban tiktok. in the5/ three years since then we've had açó tremendous numberf red flags that make the case for a legal ban much stronger. >> commissioner, it's dom. the fcc has a huge amount of power to influence overt(r types ofçó issttáy what exactly, in your mind, needs to be done fromi]t( washington, d.c.'s perspective, from capitol xdhill, in order t better protect americans from possible or alleged threats likp what's happeningw3 with tiktok right now? >> we took action on huawei based on similar concerns about data flows, china mobile, chinac with tiktok in the w#ómain, thi one is squarely within the realm of the treasuryr they have a two-yeap3 review looking at this. one of the most important things weñie1t( have to bring that prog tot( ae1xd close.

concerns, fbiñi director chris wray, and more broadly, after we take action on tiktok we have to come backr baseline privacy protectionst( application that'sxd hoovering applications. we have close that out sooner rather than later. >> well, that's kind of myokñi d here. tiktok feels like a piece of itd perhaps, but a piece. isn't there a much broader sort of necessity to figure out chinese surveillance and national security threats to americans? we all sort of woke up to that with the balloon. huq■ this is much bigger and muh rúñit, brendan? >> yeah, there's no question commerce department under way more broadly of all apps in technology. we've been running a lot of ?aì% companies through it. that's where we got huawei's xd ett. we took additional actionjf on hick visionñiñi and technology

we arexd putting a lot of companiesxdxd through it. tiktok has gone through that (r see the 'c■evidence. we should go there. #a1=]■ hanging fruit and build around tiktokñr with additional applications that pose similar sets of concerns. again, wer seeing in the hearing today>)( a lot of focus u)t)jt tiktok's claim thatñr they're totally independent from republicans and democratsr a lot ofxd holes inlp theire1 s. would oppose a divestiture. it's hard to say you'reñi total independent from the ccp when they come in and çósay, we're going to overrule any business decision you might make. >> one of the considerations brought up byñi a number of fol in washington, d.c. and outside, even in silicon valley, is this notion that social media in general is geared more towards youngerxd cgenerations. people who are aged 13, 14, 15, 16, 18 to 41 years old.

americans that tiktok, which has thos■çó ties to a chinese pareni company, how prog people in americaróáq the ones that are in focus xdhere, or is this mor about national security writ large? is it more about protecting kids? it's been brought up in the hearings is why iñh■okask. >> two parallel issues. there's national security, which is surveillance and foreign influence campaign issues. in fact, we've seen ccp statexd media use tiktok to rukñr divis% there's that bucket of mental health. the hearing right now is walking through that and talking about the evidence, how the sister,t( for tiktok available in china, douyin shows editional exhibits, museum experiments and the kids here are shown somethingñi very different.fá democrats are fo

rightly so, on that unique mental health challenge when it comes to tiktok. >> thank you very much, commissioner.ñixd appreciate your input today, &háhp &hc% leading the conversation.i] brendan carr, fcc commissioner. it's going to'c■ bea5■ çóchalleo matter whate1 the ceo of tiktok said today. i think he was going to faceñi he tries to defend the links, ”ch it's hard topga do with the party. >> it's also tough because thea transparm that has añi lot of people hung up. within capitol hil■@ and even o main street okamerica. and one of the things you aren't getting from this particular hearing is any kind of further transparency at all. in fact, when they talk about some of the financials that are going along with it, i very much understand as açó private compa, you don't wanti] tot( disclose of those thingsnb■ because you e things to protect. but what it does is just kind of -?óq at leasta5■fá promote ta that they have things to hide.fá if they have those things to

q!%9 about. >> of course. >> one of the things i thinka5■ theseu■ lawmakers are trying to this forfá the last hour or so,s this forfá the last hour or so,s trying to get atç'rj notion that there areñr thingse1p,■ th americans would feel comfortable with with tiktokxi> unbelievable point. you'ret(ñ talkingqj7t( about 18 45-year-olds are the predominant power users ofe1 tiktok. >> correct.u■ voters. >> and they are voters, right. so the politicalúá0sr#ications are huge. you also wonder whether or not when the people onu■ capitol hi are asking questions of tiktok right now, how much of this is trying to appeal toqjf a voter e

that may be shifting in terms of view and demographic over t next several years or decades. >> serious u■concerns, obviousl totallyq valid around national security,e1 around connections china, but also a lot of 0u)(p& theater.d hydroxy wasq brought up andçó hñ it's not effective forñi covid. it'sxd political. but xdobviously, we'ree1 monito it because there's some real "o cf1 o meta and snap afdz the entire social media --t-p>> xdçóabsolu. evenw3 pinterest, who we don't often mentiong companies, evenzv■ pinterest is higher, possibly withñi some tailwind coming from the competitive pressuresó[■ on tik. >> everythingñi is higher, at l the information technologyfá sector is surging to the top of the market, up u■lpñ2.7%. up 400 points on the dow. again, erasing all of the selloff we had post-fed yesterday.

and post-treasury secretary yellen's comments which spooked people about the banks. the nasdaq comp up ñri]2.2%. with that, let's listen back into the hearing where the tiktok ceo is still taking questions from lawmakers. lxeyr. here's the truth. in a million lines of codez.■ t smallest shift from a zeroçóe1 one on just one of thousands of versions of tiktoknb■zv■ on the market, will unblock sensitivef ccp5a■ censorship and access american data. m$;ñchew, as ceo of tqk have you not directed your engineers to change this source code? >> congressman, thank you for the question. >> have you directed them took change the source code? >> like what we are offering? >> have you directedf4"ur @r(t&% change that source code? >> congressman, if you give me a bit of time to -- >> no, i don't --ok it's a yes no question. have you directed your engineers to change that source code? >> i'm not sure i understand. >> why are you allowing tiktok to continuejf to have the capacy

for censorship and yet you claim here you don't?e1g let me remind youw3nb■ of somet. do you realize making false and misleading statements to >> yes, i do. >> so have you directed your engineers to change that source code? >> i'm gico"ñi third-partyq monitoring accessxd -- you're t expert on this and you can agree no other -- >> what source code is the same as douyin? what percentage. >> i can get back to you on the specifics. where was the source code for tiktok developed?d in china or the united states? >> it's a global collaborative effort. >> was ité@■ developed in china? some of it? >> some of it. >> and bytedance, cant( the --e when it's compiled ine1 thei] compilation process,e1 can byte code be manipulated? we talked about source code. what about byte code,ñi the one device. >> congressman, to giveñr you -

that's why we're giving third-partyfá monitors. very few companies -- >> i'vexd got the report by ♪i want to read you something from ron debert, specifically in your written testimony to citizen lab found that there was no ovej(8 dataq transmission byt and that tiktok did not contact any servers within china. you implied that citizen lab exonerated tiktok for any information-sharing with china. well, the director of citizen lab saw this and issued a statement correcting the record1 yesterday. and i'm quoting thelp directorç the lab. i am xddisappointed th++ñ tikto citizen lab's t(resi!■ in their statements to government as somehow exculpatory. i've called them out on this in the past and it's unfortunate that i have to do it again. he goes on to say, i quote, we

even speculatedtuq■ possible mechanisms to which the chinese unconventional techniques to obtain tiktok user data via pressure on bytedance, end of quote. mr. t(chew, youe1 se written testimony citing thisq lab as a support of your claim th)÷ china cannot access userfá data. u.s. user data. now this labçó has come outlplp say, we never said that. that's misleading. mr. chew,ñi iñs;■ hope you unde what that is. that's misleading. mr. chew, thise1 is yet another instance of tiktok attemptingi]o mislead americans about what their technology isxd capable o and who has access to their information. madam chair,çó i'd likeq to -- >> i'd like to respond to that quickly. >> -- and the citizens lab into the record. >> without objection. p>> gentleman yields back. chair yields to the gentleman from xdmaryland, mr. sarbanes>é five minutes. >> thanks very much, madam

chair. mr. chew, i'm going to pick upx on a theme we've already covered here, which is theq-r■ effect t your platform,?;■ alonck with m other social media platforms, by the way, hasñi in terms of ment and behavioral health in this country. i won't speak to what's happening elsewhere ikn$he world. we talked about the impactçó it having on children, on teens. we took some action last yearçón this committeeçóñixdok to tryxde accessçoxdçó resources, we authorized critical programs to address mental health needs but we need to do even more than that. we've got to address what the big companies like tiktok are doing because those are platforms that expose children, teens to additional risks.fá the morelp time that middle and high schoolersñi spend on socia media, the evidence is moree1 anxiety and depression. this is particularlyt(çó troubl since apparently 16% of americar

teenagers report thatxd they us tiktok, quote,a¢=mq■ constantly. that's, i think, about 5 million are on tiktok all the time. and we know that big ñrñitech, including tiktok users design features that can manipulate children and teenst( to keep th to feed them a never-ending stream ofjf conten keep their attentionq for hours on end,lp which includes capitalizinp on the desire for others' approval through liket( features, preying on t)u fear of missing outok through push notifications and so lp#orth. again, you're part of an entry that's setlp up to do this. you in some sense don't appeare to be able to help yourselves in reaching out and finding that new user and theni] holding ont them. on tiktok itself has acknowledged that these features and others like the endless scroll feature,x:

outsized effect on teens. we've been discussing today how your app only intensifies that harm by amplifying dangerous content andçó misinformation. i don'te1xd want to be too paternalistic because we have tiktok userst( watching this hearing, and i'm sure they have their own ideasehbboutq howçó t technology is being managed by platforms. platforms, and they should be able to do that safely. so it's certainly in their interest and they can drive thir conversation, i think, perfectly well. it's not a fair fight, is it? theçó algorithms are on one sid of the screen. human brain is on the other side of the screen,jjt in theseçó r(t&háhp &hc% in many instances at an age where the xdbrain's not evy developed qyet. so,w3ñi addictive impulses are g

perfected by theñr technology.ñi again, it leaves the users sor" of helpless in the face of xdth. are you looking at ways to redesign core features like the one i mentioned to be less r+áu commit to making some of thoseçó modifications h1 today? >> congressman,ñi thank you. we do want to be leading in terms of sa26ezez ourxd users,ç la limit. >> let's talk about the 60e1xd - >> i'm glad to see otñ in our industry to toll. we studied them seriously.t( we have a series of features, for example, if you're under 16, you cannot use direct messaging feattpe because, you know, we feattpe because, you know, we want to protectç'jut younger users. if you're under 16, you canno go viral by default. if you're under 18, you cannot go live. >> letjfxd me go back to the xd 60-minute limit because my understanding is teens canxd

pretty easily bypass the notification to continue using the app if theyxd want to. let's face it.ñi our teens are smarter than we are by half. they know how toñi use the technology and they can get around these limits if they wan. are you measuring how many teej# continue to exceed the 60 minutes of time on that app? >> wew3 understand -- >> and how that's working? >> we understand thosexd concer■ what our intention is to have the teens and their parents have these conversations about what is appropriate amount ofñi time for social media. that's why we give the parents what we cilr family -- >> let melp ask you this questi if you concludedñie1 that putti some reasonable limits in place and trying to find a way to enforce them, would lead some percentage of qofrçó usersxd to leave tiktok and goñi somewhere else, is that something that you're prepared to accept? >> yes.t( >> really? well, i'd love to getxd the research on how these limitsx

being implemented, how they're being bypassed and thee1 things- y■ those issues going ñrq.tj please bring that information forward. >> i'llñi be happy to. >> i yield back. >> gentleman yields. chaire1 recognizes the gentleme from kentucky for five minutes. >> i appreciate theñi time. mr. shou, your terms of service specifically state that tiktok does, and i quote, not allow ■ controlled substances. despite this content being against your terms of service, and i brought this up with other service providers, but despitet% this content being against your terms of service, content on drugs likexd fentanyl, drug trafficking is pervasive ande1 racks up hundreds of thousands of views.xd in 2020 the benadryl resulted in the deathçó of an american teenager. while you were atxd bytedance,

you were the okcfo at byteda do traffickin dxd relating in deatr injury to kids? >> congressman, i represent tiktok here today. tiktokxdc does notxd allow ille drugs --p>> does douyin in chin? >> i believe they don't allow this. i would nedf to check. i don't run their business. tiktok does not allowñi this. >> what we're concerned about, and mç3 guess, and it wouldxd ññ douqii allow for 41 days a threat againstxab member of tbe threat againórr'ese communist pd on their site for 41 days? >> again, i cannot speak for douyin. i'm sorry, i didn't hear the >> we had axd threat against th chairwoman of our committee for 41 days.i] >> that contmga isok violative. i'll look into the specifics. q6f it violates our guidelines, >> what i'm trying to get at, t- >> weem to be able to prevent t-

thisçó content in china. so not even taking it down, just prevent it from being posted and yet it's onw3 your website. i have a coupleó[■ quee @r(t&há% about -- you said earlier, as soon as you find this information, you take it qdown. so, how quickly does yourxd algorithm detect keywordse15a■ content that involves illicit drug trafficking before it'st( used byñi others? >> we have about 40,000ñi peopl working on this, together with the machines weq train.pindustr. this is a real big challenge for our industry. )ut content, including illegal drugs, down to ar number. >> when we have these hearings we have ceos of different companies of your colleagues anñ competitors and we always hear apologies and w=dñi always heare want to do better at this, but it doesn't seem to be improving. we hear stories of our children and obviously this has been talked aboutitoday. how many posts and accounts have been removed from tiktok due to

content posted relatedq tot( illicit drugs5a■ or otherñr controlledxdjf substances? >> congressman, we do publish that in a transpatiency xdrepor. information to yours. >> i appreciate that.q also we understand thatqa5■a5■ñ that people use tiktok or other platforms similar to yours ist( they ensure its flaggedjf userñ content isn't -- we've heard users see drug advertisement and given a code to go to another site. do you work with other platforms tod platform to nb■another? >> i will work with my team to make sure we stampñmeñ this. >> so, what's kind of frustrating to all of us here is we look at what's happening on yourñit(ñ;sitesu■ and others. particularly that we know because we've done the research that you can't havexd access to illicit drug information or

others on douyin, which is a senior company, as you say, in china. it absolutely -- if you can prevent it on one and not the other, you obviously have the forward andi] yet you don't. would you like to expand howlp e of your sister companies canñi prevent that and you not? i know you don't represent douyin, they don't allow it, but it happens on your platform. >> the majority of content on tiktok is fun, entertaining, informative and veryt( positive for our users. like other companiesxd that operate in this country, we have to deal with some bad actors who come and publish contentu■ on illegal drugs, you know,fá other -- ablei] to access xddouyin. >> the tiktok u.s. experience should be compared to other u.s. companies because this is -- >> but your parent company has the technology to prevent it because you prevent it in china but you can't prevent it ñrhere. it's different. that's why i'm asking. >> there's no technology perfect in doing this. we have to deal with the reality

of the country that we're q i. other companies, we share this - challenge. we are investing a lot to address the challenge but it's a shared challenge. >> you invest -- you s-ñ toñbmz able toñr address it in china b not here. >> again, you know, i think the comparison has been within the single country. we face the same set of >> i'm sorry. what's the difference between china and here? >> let me give you an example. content because singapore has ' very strict drug laws. >> thank you. my time's expired and iqu■ yiel back. >> chair recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. ñiqtanco, for five minutes. >> thank you, madam 5a■chair. tiktok'sxd algorithmñr■ preys on vulnerableñr people, including those struggling with addiction, eating disorders az÷ other mental'qp&th conditions. the platform is designed to push content to users that will watch more frequently )n- for longer periods of time. unfortunately, for many peopleu

suffering from certain mental health disorders, videos thatlp reinforce their fears or negative self-image are more engaging. onñi top of that tiktok has receivede1 sensitive patient an he',2!■ records of browsing frod telehealth companies. people's personal struggles should not be fuel for tiktok's profits. people should be able tonb@m-■ help to address series medicall their information will be shared with social media companies qéú)ying to pushñr more product services or?;■u■ contente1 at t. mr. chew, will tiktok continue to get information from ñi third-parties one1 its users' çó health, including their mental health? yes or okno? >> we'll continue to work with experts, yes, if that's the question. >> wellçó -- >> to identify these issues. >> will you continue to get information from these third-parties, including theirq mental health, yes or no? ■yntal health, yes or no? not understand your question. if your question is if i'm

working with them on these will you continue to get information from these health? >> get information? we do not get any user health information from jfthird-partieq congressman. >> willfá you commit here todayo no longer using data aby pa their mental health, to push them content or sell ads, yes o■ no? >> we take our users' mental health very seriously. >> yes or no.çó >> as far as i'm aware, we don't do that, congressman. it's not -- >> so the ans1%>■ is no, you'll no longer u%t data about users' health. tiktoknb■t(çó syss'atically exp users' anxiety by pushing alarming and distressing content one1 their for you page. in may ofñiçó 2022 the l.a. tim pr searching for information about their pregnancies on tiktokw3 we

then shown information about miscarriages, stillbirthse1 and delivery room xdtraumas.e1 pervasive user engagement and for tiktok it means money. in ther percentage of content that a user seú■ is considered distressing content? >> congressman, we work with a lot of experts on this. even before we set the 60-minute time limit, if you spend too can try it. we will sendçó you videos to go out and get some air and get off the platform. >> what perc"éptj(ju$ @r(t&háhp% that a user sees is consideredç potentially harmful? >> i would need toñr follow up with my team and get back to you on that. >> ballpark. >> i will need to follow up with my team. >>çó so, are teenagersq in particular showni] more distressing content? >> the opposite is true. we actually put in more restrictions toñ

teenagers get a better experience. >> are expecting or new parents shown more distressing content?ó >> i know of many çóparents, including one recently, whoçóñid ourlp platform to find communits and connect with other parents and learn more. i've heard amazing stories of creators who have difficulties -- >> i'm çóreclaiming my time. are individuals with eating disorders shown more distressing content? >> we remove all contentçó thatr glorifies eating disorders. we look at experts -- certain be harmful like diet trends and makeñi sure we disperse them throughout our algorithm. >> what about those with mental health issues. >> if aq user searches words tvu expresses mental health issues, we direct them to a safety page. for xdexample, if you -- i don' know if i should say this in public. if you search, i want to die, we will lead you to a safetyq page for example. >> so what about those suffering

from addiction, are they given more distressing content? >> i'm sorry, xdcongres#merijf missed that question. >> those suffering from addiction, are they given more distressing content? >> i missed the first. i apologize. >> what about those suffering from addiction, are they given more distressing content? >> those suffering fromr >> addiction. !m&t) rñaddiction. do you mean drug addiction or -- >> yes.e1 or any order■ó of addiction. and you can try on a variety of subjects, we will actually direct you to ai] safety page t give you more resources.ço cf1 o and a lot of recoveringñi addic havefá actually found afá communities on tiktok and it's helped them find their voices in community and courage to really i've personally heard stories of that. ÷yñe1 well, i appreciate your ut i was looking for yes or no. ge. and, again, i think the more that they watcht( this distressg

content the more profit tiktok makes and that's distressing.e1r >> gentleman yields back. chair recognizeslp the gentlema from michigan, mr. wahlberg for five minutes. >> thank you, madamç?dchair. we're glad you're here, mr. chew. as chair rodger"o■çóñi and bud this morning, the wall streetñi reported thatq china will oppos any forced sale or divestiture of tiktok. this is based not on conjecture but based on comments provided by theçó official spokesperson theqw3çó ministry oft( commerce said that any tiktok sale orñi spinoff would amountlp to a technology export and would have to adhere toñr(rr'ese law and tpi quote, the chinese gove do you agree with this official? yes or no? >> congressman, i cannot speak government official. >> do you agree with that e1

official? >> we would nee$awzjjjr(u this. project texas is designed to move forward here in the united states. we are not discussing this. i don't know specifics. >> you know,e1xd your company i valued at upwards of $50 billion. and has been on the verge ofñi forced sale or ban for three years, at least, correct? do youñrfáñr expectxd this comm believ# youe1 haven't already discussed this scenario withñi your team? and you should have an answer tk this, yes or no, i agree with the communist party or i don't agree with the communist party?i so, 'd guess i would say at tha point, you disagree with the communist party. explain yourñiçó discrepancy. >> xdcongressman, for two years we spent r project texas. >> proj[#uokq texas is just something expanded fo81 the

future. we're talking about now.e1xd we're talking about what you're doing now, what your expectations are now, what your relationship is with■k the communist party, which is our major concern of what the impact that willw3 bee1 with a countác let me rephrase that. with a communist party that doesn't care about america and sees us as standing in their way for superpower. that's our concern and for you to have direct relationship -- direct ownership with bytedance and not have the characterization or an agreement or disagreement that you say explicitly with this party policy is hard for us to believe what you're saying. let me move on. following up on what mr. latta asked about data access by chinese engineers. in response you talked about where american user data would

be stored in the future, but the question was about access today, storage in the future versus access today. this is total redirection. this blows up any trust we could desire to develop. so, to be clear, mr. chew, today do bytedance employees in beijing have access to american data -- >> congressman, we have been very open about this. we have relied on global interoperability. >> you have access to american data? >> congressman, i am answering your question if you give me a bit of time. we have employees in china, so, yes, the chinese engineers do have access to global data. >> not storage. >> no. storage has always been in virginia and singapore. the physical servers. >> you have no access to storage, to american data today? >> that's not what i said. >> so you do have access to

american data, and you have storage of american data? >> the american data has always been stored in virginia and singapore in the past. access of this is on an as required basis -- >> as required? >> engineers for business purposes. >> bytedance? the communist party? >> no, no. >> how can you say that if they have access -- >> this is a private business, and, like many other businesses, many other american companies, we rely on a global workforce. >> tiktok ceo getting grilled on capitol hill today for a house hearing. we'll continue to monitor that for you. i just want to point out stocks are full on in rally mode, up more than 400 points on the dow. if we hold at that level, then we wipe out yesterday's post-fed and post treasury secretary yellen's sell-off. leading the charge up 2.25. semiconductors up, microsoft, apple, nvidia all strong and so are the social media names that

stand to benefit from any pain or ban from tiktok. we're talking meta, snap, pinterest. netflix is surging 9% as well. we are getting a statement from the treasury on tiktok as we monitor this hearing. kayla tausche? >> reporter: treasury is releasing a statement on behalf of the committee on foreign investment in the united states, a committee which it chairs and for the better part of four years evaluating the national security concerns posed by tiktok and as recently as yesterday one of the seats on that committee, the national security council, said it cannot comment specifically on tiktok. and this statement says as a general matter they do not comment on transactions. in every case the committee reviews, however, takes all necessary actions within its authority to safeguard national security and will not clear any transaction unless it determines there are no unresolved security concerns. broadly speaking, some

transactions can present data security risks including preventing a foreign person or government with sensitive personal data as well as access to intellectual property, source code or other potentially sensitive information. the statement says on a case-by-case basis with ensure the protection of national security including preventing the misuse of espionage, tracking and other means that threaten national security. that statement not mentioning tiktok by name but clearly acknowledging many of the concerns raised in that hearing even just before you dipped out of the hearing where the ceo was asked whether the company has access to american data where it is stored in singapore. he did not clearly answer that question and say they do not have access or do not do access. earlier in the hearing he said that data will not be able to be accessed after the so-called project texas goes into place, but it is not the case right now. >> kayla this is interesting only because it's not often that

you'll get an on the record issued statement from the committee on foreign investment in the u.s. this is the juxtaposition, right, we have lawmakers on capitol hill, part of the legislative branch, going through these proceedings, and now you have the executive branch and its units weighing in as well. does it seem as though this is going to be one of those efforts when it comes to tiktok that seems to bridge the gap not just between parties but by branches of the government as well? >> yes, to a certain extent, dom. one of the dynamics we expected after republicans took the house after the midterms was this race to out hawk each other. the biden administration versus the republicans, who can be tougher on china. and certainly the work has been conducted behind closed doors for many years. they've been grappling with the same questions members are raising today in a very public fashion, and i think this statement is a way to bridge the gap on some of those concerns and note there is some unity on

this issue even if they can't comment on the company or the outcome that it will be seeking. >> guys, i just want to read a tweet. a cnbc contributor put out a tweak. the tiktok ceo is not the boss, tiktok's behalf. it does sound like that. your impression what we've heard so far overall? >> certainly he is very polished. he has prepared deeply for this hearing. it is clear he is not the boss here. he declined to disclose his compensation, he holds bytedance equity, he is paid by bytedance and was prepped by bytedance's lawyers. in many of these situations, he has been unable to ameliorate concerns of lawmakers about exactly how the company operates and whether it is, in fact, independent. certainly that's what he came to

capitol hill to do. there's more time left on the clock. we'll see if he can successfully do it. >> kayla tausche, thank you very much for that. let's bring in our own julia boorstin, who has been listening intently as well. of course, she is our senior media correspondent here. sara and i were talking off set before and i've been talking with a number of folks here on the floor. the expectation today for a hearing like this, i harken back to the first time mark zuckerberg took the hill, a lot of, i'm not sure, senator, i don't recall, senator, i'll have to get back to you, senator. it seems like, sara, we're getting a lot of that same kind -- >> chew is a little bit better prepared. >> i think he started off smooth but it became clear the line of questioning was pretty intense, and we're really seeing both sides of the aisle come together here criticizing tiktok for its negative impact on teens, for the fact that it spreads

misinformation, for the fact that it spreads potentially violent or incendiary content there were two videos shown. one shows a compilation video encouraging suicide. another showing what looked like a violent video that was threatening violence against one of the congresswomen, showing a gun going off. so i think the videos have really been quite dramatic here. what's been most notable, the one thing that really drew the most frustration among the congress people who were questioning him is this idea that there is still u.s. data that can be accessed by china right now. he talked a lot about the investment to shift control over what they call project texas, make sure everything is housed here in the u.s. it sounds like that is not complete yet, and because project texas is still in process, there is still the potential for people in china who work for tiktok to access

u.s. data. that drew concern among those asking questions. >> julia, thank you. bullish for snap, meta and googleaid which is your

deposits are safe in u.s. banks. a lot to talk about. the nasdaq up more than 2%. >> i'm frank holland in for the judge. we have a strong rally on our hands. the dow is up a percent and a quarter. the s&p up just about a percent and a half. the nasdaq the best performer up 2%. we're watching the yield on the ten year, 3.4