Golden shares are giving Beijing more control over Chinese tech companies, and stoking concern in Washington.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, March 23, 2023. Credit: Jack Gruber via USA TODAY
During the fifth hour of the blockbuster congressional hearing on TikTok on March 23, U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) posed a question to the company’s weary chief executive, Shou Zi Chew.
“Do you agree that TikTok is controlled by the CCP?” Crenshaw asked. “No,” Chew responded, shaking his head.
“I thought you’d say that,” Crenshaw replied, before arguing that the fact that the Chinese government now holds ‘golden shares’ in TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, in practice makes the two companies virtually indistinguishable from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“ByteDance owns TikTok… And the CCP owns ByteDance because the CCP owns everybody in China. So by law they can make them do whatever they want. And they say that by law you can’t tell anyone about it. So they can make you hand over that data,” Crenshaw said.
Dan Crenshaw questioning Shou Zi Chew during the TikTok hearing, March 23, 2023. Credit: C-SPAN
Chew called Crenshaw’
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