YOUTH SAFETY AND MENTAL HEALTH
One of the key issues that came up during the grilling was the app’s impact on children.
Legislators asked about the moderation of harmful content, with some showing videos encouraging users to harm themselves.
Republican Representative Gus Bilirakis said: “Your technology is leading to death.”
Chew said in his testimony that as a father of two, the issues around youth safety were “personal for me”.
He reiterated that the app provides users with “age-appropriate settings and controls”, and that it offers a “separate experience” in the US for children under 13.
He added that these children are directed to videos that are vetted by a third-party expert Common Sense Network, and are given a “curated viewing experience”.
Those under 13 also cannot post videos, comment or message others.
Restrictions are also imposed on teenagers: Accounts of those under 16 are set to private by default, and they are prevented from sending direct messages, while only people 18 and over can host a live stream.
There is also a new 60-minute default daily time limit for those under 18.
The CEO said TikTok employs 40,000 moderators to track harmful content and also uses an algorithm to flag controversial material.
“I don’t think I can sit here and say that we are perfect in doing this. We do work very hard,” he said.
Chew also addressed news reports that his eight-year-old child does not use the app.
“I have seen these news articles, I would like to address that. My kids live in Singapore and in Singapore, we do not have the under-13 experience. If they lived here in the United States, I would let them use the under-13 experience,” he added.