TikTok backed out of a congressional committee’s “public roundtable” set for this month over concerns it would be asked about child safety practices, the chair of the committee said.
After negotiating “in good faith” to bring TikTok’s chief security officer before the House Select Committee on China to answer questions about Chinese government access to Americans’ data and the TikTok algorithm, Chair John Moolenaar (R-MI) said in a statement Thursday that the company reversed course. “Now, TikTok is refusing to appear citing its own desire to avoid broader scrutiny of its child safety practices,” Moolenaar wrote. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
TikTok reneged on its commitment on August 27th, Moolenaar told Bloomberg in an interview — a day after Meta reached its sweeping settlement with state attorneys general and called on TikTok and YouTube to follow suit. All three of those tech platforms still have many pending suits focused on their child safety practices. “They claimed that in light of Meta’s settlement with state attorneys general, they wouldn’t be able to answer questions on child-safety issues,” Moolenaar told Bloomberg, even though he said the meeting was not set to focus on that topic.
“They claimed that in light of Meta’s settlement with state attorneys general, they wouldn’t be able to answer questions on child-safety issues”
Moolenaar said in his statement that the committee would attempt to reschedule. “We will continue to work in good faith to protect the American people and ensure TikTok executives publicly address the Committee’s questions regarding its operations and safeguards – consistent with the requirements of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act – before the end of the year.”
The law Moolenaar references is the one that briefly banned TikTok from the US, before enforcement was repeatedly delayed by President Donald Trump. Ultimately, a deal to make its US service part of a new entity closed in January, theoretically resolving the security issues the law cited. But lawmakers on the Select Committee had lingering concerns even after that happened. In a statement after the deal closed, Moolenaar said TikTok would need to answer questions about Chinese government influence on the algorithm and US data protection to the committee directly.