WATCH: Rep. Rodgers grills TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on censoring content, surveillance of journalists

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., asked TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a House committee hearing Thursday if the app uses moderation tools to remove or censor content that would go against the Chinese Communist Party.

She asked specifically about whether the platform removed or censored content associated with the Uighurs or the Tianamen Square massacre.

"We do not remove that kind of content," Chew said. "TikTok is place for freedom of expression."

Rodgers also asked Chew to verify "with 100% certainty" that the Chinese Communist Party cannot use his company to "promote pro-CCP messages for an act of aggression against Taiwan."

"It is our commitment to this committee and all our users that we will keep this free from any manipulation from any government," Chew said.

The representative also referenced a case of TikTok surveilling an American journalist, and asked Chew to confirm that neither ByteDance nor TikTok employees can surveil Americans with similar techniques.

"We will protect the U.S. user data and [protect] it all from unwanted foreign access," Chew said.

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