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A social media app once known for cat videos and dance challenges has become a political flashpoint among Washington lawmakers.
In March, the Biden administration ordered TikTok, a platform with more than 150 million users in the United States, to be removed from federally-issued devices over concerns about the app’s handling of sensitive user data. The government later called for it, citing national security concerns TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance is selling the app or may face a total ban in the United States.
Last month, in a tense congressional hearingGrilled politicians TikTok CEO Shou Chew about the company’s ties to the Chinese government, how it handles its users’ data and concerns about children and young people using the app. After hearing passionate TikTokkers came to Mr. Chew’s defense and he went viral on his own platform.
Sapna Maheshwari, a New York Times business reporter who writes on TikTok, covered the roughly five-hour hearing and has since covered China’s response to America’s scrutiny of the app. In a redacted interview, Ms Maheshwari spoke about her reporting, Washington’s suspicions and what happens next.
What did you take away from the hearing on March 23?
I was really struck by the tough tone the legislature took on Shou Chew. It seemed like the 50+ lawmakers who polled him were interested in using their five minutes to either offer their opinions on TikTok or to pursue a very specific issue that matters to their constituents. It was quite aggressive and showed that there is not much love for TikTok in our government at the moment.
How much of this skepticism do you think is related to anti-China sentiment among politicians right now?
No politician will be accused of being too hard on China right now, and that’s definitely part of what’s going on. But there’s certainly a lot of criticism from lawmakers that might apply to other social media companies as well. The CEO of TikTok really tried to defend the platform by raising the issue several times. When discussing anxiety, depression, and self-esteem issues among teens who use TikTok, it’s reasonable to address similar concerns on Instagram.
Similarly, when it comes to privacy, TikTok’s CEO has repeatedly said that its user data is in an even more secure position than American tech companies. But people really weren’t interested in having that conversation during the hearing.
Where do you think TikTok is going from here?
What makes this story incredibly compelling is that it is completely unprecedented in the United States. If you look through history for examples, there has never been a case where the government has tried to ban an app that 150 million Americans are using on their smartphones. A lot of it really needs to be determined, making it an exciting beat to cover.
In the short term, the pace of the US government is not high. We’ll see how negotiations between the Biden administration and TikTok unfold. We’ve already seen many concerns from TikTokkers saying “Follow me on YouTube if it’s banned” and taking various precautions. And as we reported Recently, a new app by ByteDance called Lemon8 is in the works.
What do you think of Lemon8 so far? Is this an attempt by ByteDance to circumvent the actions taken against TikTok?
From what I understand from my sources, they started talking to ad agencies about this in January. At this point, TikTok was nervous that they hadn’t heard from the Biden administration, so there’s a chance they’re worried about TikTok’s future in the US
But Lemon8 appears to be a very different kind of platform — they’ve positioned it as a complementary app to TikTok. There’s an interesting slide we found in our Lemon8 coverage; In its marketing materials, ByteDance showed a potential top app store chart with CapCut, their video editing tool, TikTok, and Lemon8 as the top 3 apps.
I think this is ByteDance, undeterred, charging ahead and thinking, “We’re going to be the biggest and best app maker in America.”
Is there a particular challenge to cover evolving platforms like TikTok?
One One of the biggest challenges with covering tech platforms is how highly tailored they are to your personal interests and internet behavior. You don’t want to put yourself in a silo where you miss out on trends that other people see. I stop by a lot of different companies that track what’s popular on TikTok and people who represent creators.
How often do you use TikTok in your personal life? Have privacy concerns impacted the way you use TikTok?
I definitely log in every day. I’ve seen firsthand how addictive it can be. The feed is really good at finding out what you like right away. I created a few accounts to vary the content.
It would be really difficult to cover TikTok at this point if I had never used the app. I was certainly concerned after learning about it Surveillance of American journalists by ByteDance staff. The company says this is not their practice and that they are dealing with fraudulent employees. We’ll see how the FBI and Justice Department investigations go.
Do you have a tip for Sapna Maheshwari? Email her at sapna@nytimes.com.
