--- title: Even more than usual, all eyes are on TikTok today - The Hustle description: The app’s years-long national security drama with the US government is coming to a head. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1453592885-httpsthe-hustle.hubspot.comhubfsDaily20Newsletter20ImagesMarch2023202023tiktok_US_China-scaled.webp --- # Even more than usual, all eyes are on TikTok today ![Ben Berkley](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Ben Berkley](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/ben-berkley) Published: April 04, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 TikTok’s fate will perhaps, quite fittingly, be decided by a choreographed dance. ![TikTok with U.S. and Chinese flags](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1453592885-httpsthe-hustle.hubspot.comhubfsDaily20Newsletter20ImagesMarch2023202023tiktok_US_China-scaled.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1453592885-httpsthe-hustle.hubspot.comhubfsDaily20Newsletter20ImagesMarch2023202023tiktok_US_China-scaled.webp) In [prepared testimony](https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF00/20230323/115519/HHRG-118-IF00-Wstate-ChewS-20230323.pdf) before Congress today, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew aims to assure US lawmakers the app is safe from Chinese government influence. Chew — and the 150m+ Americans who use the social video app — will soon learn if those assurances are enough to stop the US government’s continued pursuit of a ban. #### **Everyone is in a pickle here** [Per](https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiktok-ceo-shou-zi-chew-promises-firewall-to-shield-user-data-17590542?mod=hp_lead_pos6) *The Wall Street Journal*, the Biden administration has so far stayed firm on its request: Chinese parent ByteDance must sell their TikTok shares or risk banishment. Negotiations have spanned two administrations. There’s bipartisan unity around fears that ByteDance would cede user data to Chinese authorities. - Chew refutes this, assuring feds his team operates independently — and within global privacy laws. His testimony cites “Project Texas,” the app’s US data firewall initiative, eight times. Both sides are digging in: TikTok has [expanded](https://www.axios.com/2023/03/22/tiktok-ceo-chew-congress-testimony-ban) public outreach this week. More members of Congress [say](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/six-more-senators-back-bill-given-biden-new-powers-ban-tiktok-2023-03-17/) they back legislation that would allow Biden to ban the app. - This isn’t just a US thing — Dutch officials just [joined](https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-netherlands-ban-cybersecurity-df5b67d59875a3b4f48c494ab26fe682) British and EU leadership in pulling the app from government employees’ work phones. #### **TikTok’s content is fleeting — its repercussions are not** A ban may damage politicians’ standing with TikTok’s younger fanbase, a group that already turns out to vote in small numbers. - Only 27% of Americans under 30 voted in the last midterms (actually a relatively [high mark](https://circle.tufts.edu/2022-election-center#youth-turnout-second-highest-in-last-three-decades)). - Further complicating things, [per](https://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-tiktok-dilemma-a-ban-could-hurt-democrats-more-than-republicans-a74bcf2a?mod=article_inline) *WSJ*, political parties have invested in reaching younger voters using — you guessed it — TikTok. - Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo on a [potential ban](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/21/us/politics/biden-tiktok-challenges.html): “The politician in me thinks you’re going to literally lose every voter under 35, forever.” The financial ramifications are significant as well. TikTok is central to the $100B creator economy, [per](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2023/03/22/how-a-tiktok-ban-would-affect-creators-businesses-economy/?sh=6fd5085f5608) *Forbes*. - *Insider Intelligence* [data](https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/us-tiktok-advertising-2022#page-report) projects TikTok’s ad revenue will pass $11B by next year. (That would top Snapchat, Pinterest, and Twitter.) Topics: [Tiktok](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/tiktok) ## Follow us on social media Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t. JOIN FREE ### 100% Free CRM Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. 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