Video collages and thirsty comments dedicated to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew have started appearing on the platform following the CEO’s statements. testimony before congress yesterday, when he spent five hours defending the platform in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
On TikTok, fan edits dedicated to the 40-year-old declared him “TikTok dad” and “the best CEO of our generation.”
Chew was in the hot seat answering questions from lawmakers about the future of the popular video-sharing app, which currently has more than 150 million monthly users in the United States alone.
Both Democratic and Republican politicians have expressed concerns about the app’s China-based parent company and what it means for user safety, data privacy and national security. Some lawmakers have called for the platform to be banned in the United States over fears that its parent company, ByteDance, could or would share American user data with the Chinese government. In his testimony, Chew said there was no evidence that the Chinese government had ever accessed user data.
“Let me say this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew said in the written statement That began his testimony.
There are currently three bills in Congress that could affect American access to TikTok. Two would legislate an outright ban on the platform, while the other would give the government the power to ban any technology deemed a risk to national security.
Yesterday’s hearing put TikTok’s CEO in the spotlight as he claimed that banning the app would be harmful to millions of American businesses and that a new subsidiary called Texas Project would provide a significant solution that would allow the app to remain active in the US.
While lawmakers seemed unconvinced, Chew’s defense of the app, including his praise for subcommunities within the app, such as “BookTok,” a community for people to discuss reading recommendations, seemed to strike a chord with those who found inspiration on the platform.
Online, a growing group of creators seemed impressed by Chew’s performance despite the tense nature of the audience and showed their admiration in the most organic way: creating fan edits and memes.
