TikTok House meeting withdrawal prompts child-safety claim from committee chair
TikTok withdrew from a planned House China committee roundtable, and Chair John Moolenaar says litigation over child safety was the reason.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
TikTok’s House meeting withdrawal has drawn criticism from the chair of the House Select Committee on China, who says the company cited child-safety litigation to leave a roundtable focused on national-security issues. Representative John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who leads the panel, said TikTok’s motive was to avoid wider examination of its child-safety record; TikTok had not publicly responded in the reporting reviewed by Bloomberg and The Verge.
The bipartisan session had been scheduled for Sept. 15 after months of planning, Bloomberg reported. It was intended to examine how TikTok’s U.S. business operates under its national-security arrangement, including protections for Americans’ data and the platform’s recommendation algorithm against Chinese influence.
Why did TikTok withdraw from the House meeting?
Moolenaar said TikTok withdrew on Aug. 27 after agreeing to send its chief security officer, Will Farrell, to the roundtable. According to Moolenaar, the company said that, after Meta reached a settlement with state attorneys general, it could not answer questions concerning child safety because of unrelated litigation.
Child safety was not supposed to be the focus of the session, Moolenaar told Bloomberg. He said TikTok could have declined to address any litigation-related questions while still appearing to discuss national security, data protection and the algorithm.
The allegation that TikTok left to avoid scrutiny is Moolenaar’s assessment, not an independently established explanation. Bloomberg and The Verge reported that TikTok did not respond to requests for comment.
What was the roundtable supposed to cover?
The committee wanted TikTok to explain safeguards surrounding the company’s U.S. operation following a deal that put the business under majority-American ownership, Bloomberg reported. Moolenaar said he did not know whether the decision to withdraw came from TikTok’s U.S. operation or ByteDance, which Bloomberg reported retains a 19.9% stake in the U.S. business.
The dispute comes as TikTok and other large social-media companies face lawsuits alleging that their products harmed minors. Bloomberg reported that the companies have said their products were not designed to promote compulsive use and that they have protections for younger users.
Separately, Bloomberg reported in August that TikTok and ByteDance agreed to pay $400 million to settle a Justice Department case alleging violations of children’s online-privacy rules. That settlement still required court approval.
The federal Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act is a national-security law covering certain applications controlled by foreign adversaries. Its text prohibits specified U.S. distribution, maintenance and updating services for covered apps, while exempting qualified divestitures.
Moolenaar said the committee will try to set another meeting before the end of the year and plans to invite TikTok U.S. chief executive Adam Presser again.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.