Diane Bartz, Sheila Dang

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A TikTok executive, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance on social media, said it had not given any information to China and that it took steps to protect U.S. data.

Marsha Blackburn is the Senate Commerce Committee’s top Republican.

Blackburn asked Michael Beckerman (TikTok’s chief of public policy Americas), if the company would be willing to give data to China’s government, if requested.

Beckerman replied, “We don’t share information with China government.”

Blackburn claimed that China’s government holds a financial stake and has a seat at the board of ByteDance. Beckerman refuted this claim. Beckerman stated that TikTok collects less user data than the tech industry counterparts.

Beckerman testified TikTok’s U.S. user information is stored in the United States and has backups in Singapore.

Beckerman explained that his U.S.-based security teams are renowned for their ability to handle access.

Republican Senator John Thune claimed during the hearing TikTok was perhaps more driven than Facebook (NASDAQ:) by content algorithms. The app’s famed ability to quickly learn what people like and offer them the right videos made it possible for users to find those kinds of videos.

Beckerman indicated that TikTok is willing to submit the app’s moderation policies to the Senate panel for review by independent experts.

Donald Trump, a former Republican President of the United States had tried to ban TikTok from U.S. App Stores. He claimed that it collects data from American users and could be used to obtain Chinese government information. This was a potential threat to U.S. National Security.

Later, Democratic President Joe Biden revoked Trump’s plan but requested a wider review of foreign-controlled applications.