Sen. Marco Rubio says TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appears to have lied to Congress while under oath and is asking the Department of Justice to investigate the matter.
The Florida Republican sent a letter Thursday to Attorney General Merrick Garland to call for a probe into whether Chew committed perjury during his testimony in March, when the TikTok chief said U.S. user data was not stored in China where the social media app’s parent company, ByteDance, is based.
In the letter, Rubio says Chew was asked directly during his testimony on March 23 whether American TikTok users’ data was stored in China, and the CEO replied, “No, storage has always been stored in Virginia and in Singapore.” The senator wrote that Chew repeated that assertion later, saying, “American data has always been stored in Virginia and Singapore in the past, and access of this is on an as-required basis by engineers.”
But Rubio says a Forbes article published this week shows those statements are false. The outlet reported Tuesday that TikTok stored sensitive data – including Social Security numbers and tax IDs – of American users on servers in China.
“Chew should be held accountable for making false statements about material facts related to TikTok’s operation, as he appears to have done in this case,” Rubio wrote to Garland. “I therefore request that you investigate whether Chew committed perjury when he falsely stated that TikTok has not stored the user data of Americans in China and urge you to be transparent with the American people about the threats posed by TikTok.”
When reached by FOX Business for comment on Rubio’s allegations, a TikTok spokesperson repeated the same statement provided to Forbes in reaction to its report: “We remain confident in the accuracy of Shou’s testimony.”
TikTok’s ownership by Beijing-based ByteDance has raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party could compel the app to turn over American users’ data or expose them to propaganda.
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Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have raised alarms, alleging that TikTok is a national security risk, and the app has been banned from use on government-owned devices at the federal level and more than half the state-level governments in the U.S.
Montana became the first state in the nation to ban the use of the app in the state outright last month. TikTok promptly sued Montana to challenge its ban, which the company says violates the First Amendment.
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TikTok and ByteDance are currently under investigation by the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which evaluates national security risks associated with foreign-owned companies doing business in the U.S. or foreign investments in American companies.
FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
