‘It’s a Pretty Easy Question’: TikTok CEO Declines Three Chances to Acknowledge Chinese Persecution of Uyghurs

TikTok CEO Shou Chew declined three consecutive opportunities to acknowledge the Chinese government’s persecution of its Uyghur population during a House Commerce Committee hearing, insisting that he was in attendance to speak only about his company’s activities.

“Do you agree that the Chinese government has persecuted the Uyghur population?” Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) asked Chew.

“Congresswoman, if you use our app and you open it, you will find our users, who give all sorts of content on-” replied Chew before being cut off by Lesko, who reminded the social media executive that that was not her question before repeating it.

“Well, it’s deeply concerning to hear about all accounts of human rights abuse, my role here is to explain what our platform does-” said Chew, who was once again cut off by Lesko.

“I think you’re being pretty evasive. It’s pretty easy question,” she interjected, “Do you agree that the Chinese government has persecuted the Uyghur population?”

“Congresswoman, I’m here to describe TikTok and what we do as a platform. And as a platform, we allow our users to freely express themselves on this issue and any other issue that matters to them,” asserted Shou.

“Well, you didn’t answer the question,” noted Lesko.

TikTok is facing bipartisan scrutiny as a result of its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance. The social media platform collects a large amount of data on its users and is legally required to hand over any data requested by the Chinese government. FBI Director Christopher Wray has deemed TikTok a national security threat and President Joe Biden has reportedly issued an ultimatum to company executives, demanding that ByteDance sell TikTok lest it face a national ban.

The company also has links to the ongoing Uyghur genocide taking place in China’s Xinjiang province, according to a new report from an Australian parliamentary panel.

Watch above via C-SPAN.