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    TikTok CEO Shou Chew shares message with Americans ahead of Congress appearance

    TikTok CEO Shou Chew has shared a message with the 150 million Americans who use the app asking for their support.

    Chew, who is expected to testify at US Congress on Thursday, asked Americans to tell him what TikTok has done for their small businesses and their sense of community. This comes as the US threatened to ban TikTok in the country unless the app's Chinese owners divest ownership.

    @tiktok

    Our CEO, Shou Chew, shares a special message on behalf of the entire TikTok team to thank our community of 150 million Americans ahead of his congressional hearing later this week.
    ♬ original sound - TikTok

    “Today I’m super excited to announce that more than 150 million Americans are on TikTok. That is almost half of the US coming to TikTok to connect, to create, to share, to learn, or just to have some fun. This includes five million US businesses that use TikTok to reach their customers and the majority of these are small and medium businesses. Now these numbers are amazing,” he said.

    Chew has operated mainly in the background but now this crisis has forced him into the spotlight. This is his biggest test since becoming CEO of the social network.

    Recently a bill was introduced to allow US President Joe Biden to ban technologies touted as a threat to national security by the US Commerce Department.The ultimatum is seen as the most dramatic move by US officials and legislators, as the country fears that US user data held by the business could be shared with China’s government.

    The US has already banned TikTok on federal government devices but this is the first time under Biden’s administration that a national ban has been threatened. Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok in 2020 but was stopped by the courts.

    Famous American TikTok creators such as Two Hot Takes and Baron Ryan have shown their support.

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