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Is TikTok’s time up?
That’s the question coursing through the halls of Congress, Wall Street, and the public writ large after the social media company’s chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, waffled for hours before US lawmakers on Thursday.
“TikTok’s fate in the US is on shakier ground than ever following lawmakers’ grueling questioning of Chew,” Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg said.
The 40-year-old Harvard-educated Chew was never going to get a warm welcome from US lawmakers. That much had been telegraphed ahead of Thursday’s hearing in the clearest possible manner. And Chew was well aware he would likely be greeted with a cold reception, which is why he spent hours and hours preparing over the last week for his first sworn testimony before US lawmakers.
But it was striking how the TikTok chief flailed under aggressive questioning from both Republicans and Democrats, uniting the parties in a way that is rarely ever seen in American politics anymore.
