Kerry Allen
China media analyst

It is absolutely possible that it could. Under Chinese law, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance would be compelled to respond to requests for user data if asked.

This could happen, hypothetically, if the Chinese Communist Party argued that content on the platform potentially posed a national security threat.

Article 7 in China’s National Intelligence Law states that “any organisation or citizen should support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence work”. The law says that the work would be carried out in secrecy

However this would go against China’s public messaging on TikTok, which is that the app is not a threat, but simply a popular social network enjoyed by hundreds of millions of people internationally, including many in the United States.

Image source, .

Before the committee went on recess, we heard from Congressman Brett Guthrie, who zoned in on TikTok's policy over content related to drugs and controlled substances.

He said the app's terms of service say the platform prohibits the depiction, promotion or trade of drugs, yet content that breaks these rules still surfaces and "racks up hundreds and thousands of views".

He referenced the 2020 Benadryl challenge, which resulted in the death of an American teenager, and asked Chew if, when he was CFO of Bytedance, it allowed related challenges that resulted in the harm or death of users.

In response, Chew said content that violates TikTok's guidelines will be taken down.

Guthrie asked how quickly TikTok's algorithm detects content and keywords that involve illicit drug trafficking.

Chew said about 40,000 people are working on this alongside machines the company is training. He said no industry can be perfect at moderating content, but its goal is to get content that violates TikTok's content "to a very small number".

Guthrie said TikTok's parent company in China appears to be effective in preventing this content from being posted, and asks why that can't be done in the US.

Chew told him the majority of the content posted on TikTok is "fun, entertaining and informative" but it faces the same set of challenges as other tech companies in the US.

The hearing will resume in ten minutes.

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

Earlier this month, I spoke to more than dozen TikTok users, college students and teens in the US about the move to ban TikTok.

They were all alert to potential harms from the app - but their worries were about wasting time, body image, and attention span.

They were broadly sceptical that TikTok posed a greater threat to privacy than US-owned social media firms - and specific concerns about China barely rated.

"It seems like a cop-out if they were to ban it for those reasons," Mackenna Vickery, a 22 year-old-student in New York who said her TikTok diet included feminist theory, told me.

Those reactions match up with findings from surveys, which show a majority of young people oppose a ban.

You can read more here.

Image source, House Committee on Energy and Commerce

We've moved on to Michigan Congressman Tim Walberg, who follows up on a colleague's earlier question about whether employees in Beijing working for ByteDance have access to American data.

Chew replies saying TikTok has been "very open about this".

He adds: "We rely on global interoperability, Chinese engineers have access to data."

But Chew says data has always been stored in Virginia and Singapore.

Image source, Getty Images

A recent exchange between Shou Zi Chew and Republican Congressman Bill Johnson neatly encapsulates how this hearing has gone for the TikTok CEO so far.

Asked a series of questions about the origins of TikTok's code and alleged security issues within it, Johnson interrupts Chew on several occasions to demand yes or no answers to techinal questions.

A frustrated Chew at one point asks "if you give me bit of time", but can't even finish that sentence over Johnson's accusations TikTok has failed to secure user data.

This is a theme of the hearing so far, where Chew is being asked questions and then being accused of evasiveness when he doesn't give an immediate response of yes or no.

Image source, Getty Images

The hearing has been going on for more than 90 minutes now and it has been quite an intense hearing so far.

Let's quickly recap what we have heard this morning:

• TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has taken pains to distance himself from the Chinese Communist Party

• Many lawmakers have barely let Chew speak as they push him on how much influence China has over TikTok
• There has been heavy focus on Bytedance - the Chinese company which owns TikTok - and how closely linked these firms are
• Lawmakers have put a lot of emphasis on children's safety and misinformation
• Elsewhere, the UK Parliament has moved to block the TikTok app from members' phones and Parliament's computer networks

Image source, House Committee on Energy and Commerce

Congressman Gus Bilirakis tells the TikTok CEO about a boy from New York who took his own life. Bilirakis seems to suggest that the boy - whose family has come to the hearing - was driven to self-harm by content he saw on TikTok.

Bilirakis then plays some footage on TikTok relating to suicide.

After the footage is played, Bilirakis doesn't let Chew speak or offer his own condolences.

This has become routine today: Chew is struggling to get a word in edgewise amid the lawmakers' lengthy speeches.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised you can visit the BBC's Action Line pages.

Or contact Samaritans, external in the UK or if you're in the US, call 988, or contact Lifeline, external.

James Clayton
North America technology reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Chew keep saying the same phrase - "industry norms" - when referring to the data it collects, meaning that TikTok is mostly doing the same as everyone else.

This is broadly true. TikTok hoovers up vast amounts of information like location data, IP addresses, data on what apps you’ve downloaded and so on.

But so do companies like Facebook and Twitter.

The problem Chew has is that those are US companies, and TikTok is owned by a Chinese company.

That is what this boils down to - trust.

US politicians don’t love that Facebook has this data. But they hate the idea that the Chinese government could have access to it.

Image source, Reuters

Chew has just been confronted with a video which appears to show a TikTok user threatening members of the committee.

Republican Kat Cammack says the video was posted 41 days ago, before the hearing was even publicly announced, and that it specifically threatens Chairwoman Cathy Rodgers.

Next to a sign with details of the post and a picture of a gun, the congresswoman lays out TikTok's community guidelines and how the post is a "clear and very violent threat", which has been up since February.

Cammack asks how Congress can be expected to believe TikTok can protect 150 million American's data "when you can't even protect the people in this room".

Chew is not given permission to respond.

Image source, Pool

Image source, Getty Images

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is looking increasingly frustrated by today's hearing - so far lawmakers have been united in their criticism of the platform.

In response to questions from Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Chew says he disagrees with some media reports about TikTok's activities.

"A lot of reports are not that accurate", Chew says. "A lot of it is speculation."

Image source, House Committee on Energy and Commerce

So far, US lawmakers have not let up in their questioning of TikTok's CEO.

TikTok has been functioning as a "massive surveillance programme" for China, including from serving members of the US military, one of the committee members has told Chew.

Republican Congressman Richard Hudson says that while the US military bans the app on official phones, he has concerns private devices could be used to gather information about military members and bases.

Hudson goes on to ask the TikTok CEO if the platform can access home WiFi and possibly gather data from other technology connected to the same internet network.

Chew says "we do not do anything that is beyond industry norms", but adds he will need to check to give a more technical answer to the question.

Image source, House Committee on Energy and Commerce

We're about one hour in to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew's face-off with Congress. So far, lawmakers have not gone easy.

Just moments ago, Congresswoman Diana DeGette asked about "serious miscommunications about healthcare information" on Chew's platform.

"The dangerous misinformation is not allowed on our platform," Chew says.

But, DeGette interrupts: "I am sorry to report, it is on your platform."

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

In the past, tech companies threatened by government policies they did not like have not been shy about pushing their users to raise the alarm.

Think Uber mobilizing riders, external to push back against local bans; Airbnb hosts lobbying local governments, external against fees and regulations; or Netflix and Reddit organising petitions, external against "net neutrality".

TikTok did back a press conference with some stars from its platform yesterday but in some ways the company has been positively reticent.

Jordan Marlatt, tech analyst at Morning Consult, says the company is walking a "thin line" given widespread anti-China sentiment and the risk that mobilizing users would further fan fears of Chinese influence.

"It's not like Netflix where Netflix is an American-based company," he says. Instead, he says it could be seen as "China using American based users to further its own interests."

"That's something that TikTok is trying to avoid," he told me.

James Clayton
North America technology reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Mark Zuckerberg will surely be loving this.

A year ago the Meta (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp's parent company) CEO couldn’t get out of the news.

Today, Congress is obsessed with TikTok.

It’s already clear that US politicians on both sides view TikTok as a national security risk.

The beneficiary of any kind of restriction to its rival is pretty clearly Meta, given its TikTok copy Reels is already hugely popular - so they could be a major beneficiary of a ban.

Rob Corp
Live reporter

Image source, EPA

While US lawmakers on Capitol Hill grill the boss of TikTok, their British counterparts have moved to block the video-sharing app from members' phones and Parliament's computer networks.

The ban - which affects members of the House of Commons and House of Lords - follows a decision by the British government to remove TikTok from official devices.

A spokesman for the UK Parliament told the PA news agency TikTok "will be blocked from all parliamentary devices and the wider parliamentary network".

"Cyber security is a top priority for Parliament, however we do not comment on specific details of our cyber or physical security controls, policies or incidents," the spokesman added.

Image source, House Committee on Energy and Commerce

Next up is Californian Congresswoman Anna Eshoo who turns to national security concerns.

Chew says he has seen no evidence the Chinese government has access to American data.

"I find that preposterous", Eshoo replies in one of several tense exchanges already this morning. She adds that she "doesn't believe" China has a private sector.

Chew insists the TikTok plan is to move American data storage to American soil, overseen by an American company.

"We want to give you transparency," he says.

James Clayton
North America technology reporter

Chew has already walked into a problem.

Part of Chew’s strategy today is to argue that that its owner, ByteDance, isn’t actually Chinese owned.

TikTok says that roughly 60% of ByteDance is owned by global institutions.

But here is the problem, China does view TikTok as Chinese - very clearly so - and doesn’t want the US to bully ByteDance into a sale.

During questioning, Republican Michael Burgess puts this straight to Chew - you can’t have it both ways.

"The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] believes they have the final say over your company," he says.

Image source, Getty Images

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew's personal and professional connections to China have been a hot topic at today's hearing.

Just moments ago Chew was grilled by Texas congressman Michael Burgess, who asked whether Chew could guarantee that no one at ByteDance - TikTok's parent company - had been involved in helping him prepare for today's hearing.

"Since I've been CEO of this company I've not had any discussions with Chinese government officials," Chew says.

Chew said many people had sent him well wishes and advice, and he would send over a list of those who reached out to Congress.

Nick Marsh
Asia Business Reporter, Singapore

A couple of years ago, TikTok massively expanded its presence in Singapore, going on a hiring spree and turning their office here into a global hub.

The company says it has "a few thousand employees" in Singapore.

Singapore, and south-east Asia generally, is often seen as geopolitically neutral territory.

Being located in Singapore has also provided TikTok with a degree of security, given the increasing hostility it’s faced from governments in the western world (as well as India).

As if to underline the theme, TikTok's chief executive is a US-educated Singaporean who's worked for both American and Chinese tech giants.

It's also worth mentioning that TikTok is wildly popular in this region with more than 250 million young users and potential for even more growth on top of that.