Video collages and ravenous comments dedicated to TikTok CEO Shu Zi Chu began appearing on the platform following the CEO's announcement. testimony before Congress yesterday when he spent five hours defending the platform before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
On TikTok, fan posts dedicated to the 40-year-old have hailed him as the “Dad of TikTok” and “the best CEO of our generation.”
Chu was in the spotlight answering questions from lawmakers about the future of the popular video-sharing app, which currently has more than 150 million monthly users. United States one.
Politicians in both the Democratic and Republican parties have expressed concerns about the app's Chinese parent company and what that means for user safety, data privacy and national security. Some legislators have called The platform will be banned in the US due to concerns that its parent company ByteDance could or would want to share the data of American users with the Chinese government. In his testimony, Chu said there was no evidence that the Chinese government ever had access to user data.
“Let me be clear: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chu said in a statement. written statement This is where his testimony began.
There are currently three bills in Congress that could impact Americans' access to TikTok. Two of them would ban the platform entirely, while the other would give the government the power to ban any technology deemed a threat to national security.
Yesterday's hearing caught the attention of TikTok's CEO as he said banning the app would harm millions of American businesses and that a new subsidiary called Project Texas will provide a meaningful solution that will allow the application to remain active in the US.
While lawmakers appeared unconvinced, Chu's defense of the app, including his praise for subcommunities within the app such as “BookTok,” a community where people can discuss reading recommendations, appeared to resonate with those who found inspiration on the platform.
Online, a growing group of creators seemed impressed by Chu's performance, despite the tense nature of the proceedings, and expressed their admiration in the most organic way possible: creating fan edits and memes.
