TikTok CEO

Written by: Krithi Sugenthiran (1.5), Naomi Zoe Ng (1.4), Ow Yong Yu An (1.3)

Did you know that TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, is actually a Singaporean who has been the CEO of TikTok since 2021? Born and raised in Singapore, Mr Chew was formerly chief financial officer for the company, but climbed up in ranks after former CEO, Kevin Mayer, stepped down in March 2021 claiming that he had " no interest working under US buyers".

What happened during his meeting with congress?

On March 23, during a meeting with Congress, Mr Shou testified about TikTok’s data security, privacy practices and its relationship with the China government, as some officials are still pushing for a ban on the app. There were certain reports – among many others – that the company had looked through journalists' private information to find out which employees had leaked information on the company, so Congress is worried about the privacy of American citizens.

On 15 April, Montana officially became the first US state to allow the banning of TikTok. If this is signed into law by the Governor, the ban may start in January 2024

TikTok is now working on a program called “Project Texas” and its main goal is to ensure that they can transfer user ’ s data to somewhere out of reach from the China government. “The main goal of Project Texas is to make considerable progress towards compliance with the final agreement with the U.S. government that will fully safeguard user data and U.S. national security interests,” TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a letter.

If this ban is really implemented all across the United States, we will be affected in ways that we may have never thought about.

For a start, many content creators use TikTok as a platform to showcase their talents and communicate with fans. With the ban of the app, not being able to upload content and communicate with fans on TikTok would deal a significant blow to them, especially those who built their careers from the ground on TikTok. For some fans, who look forward to seeing their favourite creators’ content after a long day, some may find it hard to relax and kick back after a hard day’s worth of work.