‘Death and Despair’: House Republican Throws DOWN With TikTok CEO in Scorched Earth Opening Statement

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was read the riot act from the word go at a House hearing before the Committee on Energy and Commerce Thursday, starting with an absolutely blistering opening statement from Republican committee chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who directed comments not just at the topic or the company but at Chew personally. And the ranking Democrat didn’t even disagree.

TikTok is under intense fire from the U.S. government for violating the privacy of American citizens, manipulating young people, promoting harm, spying on journalists, propaganda, and more, according to the committee members who began grilling Chew right when the hearing began.

As McMorris Rodgers pointed out, it was a long time coming. The House and Senate have both been after TikTok and parent company ByteDance for some time and have repeatedly attempted to get Chew before them for questioning.

The Washington Republican held nothing back, basically telling Chew she was expecting him to lie and manipulate in his answers to the committee, just as his company and the communist Chinese government do all the time.

She told him that his app is a danger to kids, that it promotes “death and despair” to American youths, “erases events and people” such as the plight of the Uyghur people, and most importantly, that his app should be banned and they intend to make that happen, and that it won’t end there. McMorris Rodgers assured him that the U.S. will be coming for the “next” technological attack from China as well.

It was a brutal statement. Watch above, via C-SPAN.