TikTok’s Chief Operating Officer has faced questions over whether or not the company hands data to China
Vanessa Pappas has become the first TikTok executive to answer questions from lawmakers about the company’s alleged ties to Beijing.
Pappas was facing members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
U.S. officials asked whether TikTok shares data with the Chinese Government. But Pappas was unable to confirm whether the company shares data, and if it can cut off its information-sharing.
“ByteDance is founded in China, but we do not have an official headquarters as a global company,” she said.
TikTok is owned by ByteDance, which is based in China.
The popular video-sharing platform has faced a series of probes by U.S. authorities, including by former President Donald Trump who placed an executive order to limit unspecified “transactions” with the Chinese owners of the app.
“I’m concerned that you’re not able to answer the question, except to say that you will not make the commitment to cutting off this data to China,” Senator Rob Portman said during the hearing.
“We also have very strict access controls around the type of data that they can access and where that data is stored, which is here in the United States. And we’ve also said under no circumstances would we give that data to China.”
VANESSA PAPPAS, TIKTKOK CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
The executive maintained the Chinese Government “in no way, shape or form—period” has control over TikTok’s corporate policies.
