{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://newhouse.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/newhouse-select-committee-ccp-send-letter-tiktok-ceo-censorship-and", "Newhouse, Select Committee on the CCP Send Letter to TikTok CEO on Censorship and Monitoring", "2023-05-12", "2023", "2023-05", "Republican", "House", "WA", "Dan Newhouse", "N000189", "newhouse.house.gov", "newhouse", "https://newhouse.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and members of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sent a letter to TikTok CEO Show Chew expressing grave concern about TikTok's ongoing censorship and monitoring individuals who view topics disfavored by the CCP\u2014at what appears to be at the behest of its Chinese-based owner, ByteDance, and the CCP.\n\nIn part, the lawmakers wrote, \"Just last week, TikTok suspended a TikTok account from the Acton Institute, which was sharing video clips from a documentary about Hong Kong newspaper owner Jimmy Lai, who was imprisoned for his support for Hong Kong\u2019s democracy movement. Recent reporting also revealed that TikTok was tracking individuals who interacted with gay content, and a third report published internal documents showing how TikTok\u2019s parent company ByteDance tracks and censors \u201csensitive words\u201d\u2014in practice, topics disfavored by the Chinese Communist Party.\"\n\nLawmakers conveyed to Chew that companies controlled by foreign adversaries have no place censoring American speech or controlling the information space, making six demands to provide the below information no later than May 24:\n\nAll documents and communications related to moderation decisions around Acton\u2019s account, including content censorship, account suspension and reinstatement.\n\nAll policies, guidelines, and communications that describe or discuss content moderation, including the enforcement of \u201ccommunity guidelines.\u201d\n\nAll documents and communications between ByteDance and TikTok regarding content moderation either in the U.S. or abroad.\n\nAll information about TikTok\u2019s \u201cheating\u201d of content on behalf of the CCP, PRC government, ByteDance, or any other PRC entity.\n\nAn explanation of whether TikTok believes that Jimmy Lai\u2019s detention comports with the rule of law or democratic principles and, if not, the implications of Mr. Lai\u2019s detention for press freedom.\n\nAll documents and communications related to the process and methodology of putting TikTok users on lists or tracking them\u2014including but not limited to the tracking of users who watched gay content as reported by the Wall Street Journal.\n\nChairman Mike Gallagher and Representatives Rob Wittman, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Andy Barr, John Moolenaar, Darin LaHood, Neal P. Dunn, Jim Banks, Dusty Johnson, Michelle Steel, Ashely Hinson, and Carlos Gimenez cosigned the letter.\n\nYou can read the full letter here and below.\n\nDear Mr. Chew,\n\nThe U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party writes to express deep concern and to seek additional information about recent reporting on TikTok\u2019s ongoing censorship and tracking of sensitive topics. Just last week, TikTok suspended a TikTok account from the Acton Institute, which was sharing video clips from a documentary about Hong Kong newspaper owner Jimmy Lai, who was imprisoned for his support for Hong Kong\u2019s democracy movement. Recent reporting also revealed that TikTok was tracking individuals who interacted with gay content, and a third report published internal documents showing how TikTok\u2019s parent company ByteDance tracks and censors \u201csensitive words\u201d\u2014in practice, topics disfavored by the Chinese Communist Party. Each report raises serious concerns about the extent to which TikTok\u2019s decisions continue to track the priorities of its owner, ByteDance, and, therefore, the Chinese Communist Party.\n\nThe Acton Institute\u2019s TikTok account was set up two weeks ago to promote the release of an Acton Institute documentary about Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong media mogul who was imprisoned because of his support for Hong Kong\u2019s democracy movement, which the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC) repressed. All of the content that the Acton Institute shared on TikTok was about the documentary film. TikTok\u2019s actions to censor the account began almost immediately. TikTok first censored a video that Acton shared which showed the Hong Kong police attacking pro-democracy protestors. Acton continued to share video clips from the documentary.\n\nOn May 2, with no prior warning or explanation, Acton\u2019s account was suspended. After a public outcry, TikTok restored the account but continued to censor some of the video clips from the film for violating TikTok\u2019s \u201ccommunity guidelines,\u201d but it provided no explanation about how or why the clips were in violation. As Acton and the media continued to shine a light on TikTok\u2019s censorship, TikTok eventually restored the videos.\n\nAll these actions reinforce the very serious concerns that Members of Congress\u2014including many Select Committee Members\u2014have repeatedly raised about the extent to which TikTok\u2019s decisions, including decisions about content moderation, are subject to the influence, control, or direction of the CCP and/or the PRC government. TikTok owner ByteDance\u2019s deep links to the CCP are well established. We therefore request additional information about TikTok\u2019s content moderation policies and practices.\n\nAlthough TikTok denies that it moderates content on behalf or at the direction of the CCP or PRC government, TikTok has repeatedly made decisions that are directly aligned with the CCP\u2019s censorship priorities. For example, TikTok has secretly suppressed topics the PRC finds politically sensitive, including its genocide of Uyghur Muslims, the status of Tibet, and the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square. It has banned accounts whose posts disparage the \u201cnational honor,\u201d and research suggests that TikTok suppressed videos about midterms and voting last year. In a clear precursor to the censorship of Acton, TikTok even blocked an American teenage Muslim activist who criticized the CCP\u2019s treatment of Uyghur Muslims\u2013only reinstating her account after a public outcry. These decisions raise very serious concerns about the extent to which TikTok is influenced, controlled, or directed by Beijing\u2019s priorities.\n\nThese latest examples of censorship and tracking reinforce the very serious concerns described above. TikTok\u2019s stock answer\u2014that in some cases, it has reinstated content or halted a particular tracking technique\u2014is inadequate because TikTok has never adequately explained how those censorship decisions were made in the first instance or given a complete and comprehensive explanation of how its community guidelines operate in practice. That means that, for every egregious decision that is reversed after a public outcry, there are likely many more such censorship decisions that fly under the radar and therefore aren\u2019t reversed.\n\nWhat we do know is that TikTok\u2019s parent company ByteDance\u2019s founder promised to integrate \u201csocialist core values\u201d into ByteDance technology and that ByteDance\u2019s editor-in-chief, who is the Secretary of its CCP committee, vowed that the CCP committee would \u201ctake the lead\u201d across all product and business lines.\n\nForeign adversaries should not be allowed to censor Americans\u2019 speech directly or indirectly or to control the information space through which Americans access news.\n\nWe therefore request that you provide the following information by May 24, 2023:\n\nAll documents and communications related to moderation decisions around Acton\u2019s account, including content censorship, account suspension and reinstatement;\n\nAll policies, guidelines, and communications that describe or discuss content moderation, including the enforcement of \u201ccommunity guidelines\u201d;\n\nAll documents and communications between ByteDance and TikTok regarding content moderation either in the U.S. or abroad;\n\nAll information about TikTok\u2019s \u201cheating\u201d of content on behalf of the CCP, PRC government, ByteDance, or any other PRC entity;\n\nAn explanation of whether TikTok believes that Jimmy Lai\u2019s detention comports with the rule of law or democratic principles and, if not, the implications of Mr. Lai\u2019s detention for press freedom; and\n\nAll documents and communications related to the process and methodology of putting TikTok users on lists or tracking them\u2014including but not limited to the tracking of users who watched gay content as reported by the Wall Street Journal.\n\nThe House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party has broad authority to \u201cinvestigate and submit policy recommendations on the status of the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s economic, technological, and security progress and its competition with the United States\u201d under H. Res. 11.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T23:55:44Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://newhouse.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/newhouse-select-committee-ccp-send-letter-tiktok-ceo-censorship-and"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4225821942090988, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}