TikTok CEO says China-based ByteDance employees still have access to some U.S. data

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told U.S. lawmakers that China-based employees astatine its genitor institution ByteDance whitethorn inactive person entree to immoderate U.S. information from the app but added that won't beryllium the lawsuit erstwhile its hazard mitigation plan, called Project Texas, is complete.

The speech is important due to the fact that it gets astatine the crux of U.S. officials' fears astir TikTok's ownership and besides shows however tricky and time-consuming untangling the app from its Chinese genitor institution tin be.

Lawmakers and quality officials fearfulness that U.S. idiosyncratic information could get into the hands of the Chinese authorities via ByteDance. That's due to the fact that Chinese instrumentality allows the authorities to get wrong accusation from companies based determination for purported nationalist information purposes, arsenic CNBC has reported.

During Chew's much-anticipated grounds earlier the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, asked Chew if immoderate ByteDance worker successful China could presently entree U.S. data.

"After Project Texas is done, the reply is no," Chew said. "Today, determination is inactive immoderate information that we request to delete."

Later successful the hearing, successful an speech with Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., Chew denied it shares U.S. information with the Chinese Communist Party, saying that TikTok is simply a "private business" that, similar galore others, relies connected a "global workforce."

In effect to a petition for remark past week astir a remark made successful a Wall Street Journal article that TikTok represents a Chinese espionage operation, a TikTok spokesperson said successful a connection determination was "no truth" to the allegation.

The spokesperson added astatine the clip that "Since October of 2022, each caller U.S. idiosyncratic information has been stored exclusively successful the Oracle Cloud Environment, with protected information afloat retired of scope of immoderate overseas government. That information is managed exclusively by U.S. Data Security—a TikTok subsidiary made up of Americans, led and located successful America—whose sole absorption is to support U.S. nationalist information interests by securing U.S. idiosyncratic information and preventing extracurricular manipulation of our systems."

TikTok said Thursday that Project Texas is already successful enactment but determination are galore steps to scope its completion. That includes deleting information from TikTok's servers successful Singapore and Virginia, a process it began past week. The information connected those servers is the benignant that could theoretically inactive beryllium accessed by China-based ByteDance employees for the clip being.

Once that information is deleted, according to TikTok, those employees volition nary longer person entree to U.S. idiosyncratic information from the app.

— CNBC's Rohan Goswami contributed to this report.

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WATCH: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew: I don't condone effort by erstwhile employees to entree U.S. idiosyncratic data