TikTok CEO should be held to account in the European Parliament

The Renew Europe Group has today written to Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, asking her to invite Mr Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok, to a hearing so Parliamentarians can learn more about TikTok’s practices and remind Mr Shou Zi Chew of his obligations under EU law, in particular under the DSA and GDPR legislations.

In the letter, Renew Europe MEPs raise concerns about TikTok’s practices in terms of data privacy and data security, consumer protection, manipulation of personal data, tracking, use of dark algorithms, but also content moderation and the fight against illegal and harmful content. Our MEPs are also concerned about the issue of data transfers to China and the relationship between Tiktok and its parent company ByteDance and with the Chinese government.

Dragoş Tudorache MEP (REPER, Romania), member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, said:

“We have an obligation to ensure the estimated 150 million European users of TikTok are safe, free from manipulation, fuelled addictions and toxic content. The recent security concerns raised about TikTok, including foreign interference, demand scrutiny. TikTok must be safe for Europeans and we have questions for its CEO that need to be answered.”