TikTok CEO vows to earn global trust, as app challenges US ban

Chew Shou Zi calls earning local trust around the world “a big challenge” for TikTok at a summit in Riyadh

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TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi testifies before US lawmakers on Capitol Hill in Washington in March 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:23pm, 29 Oct 2024Updated: 1:19am, 30 Oct 2024

TikTok, the Chinese-owned short-video app fighting a ban in the US, is determined to earn trust in every market where it operates, CEO Chew Shou Zi said at a summit in Saudi Arabia’s capital city.

As the social media industry faces more questions, “earning trust locally … is going to be a big challenge for us, all of us”, Chew said in a conversation with Richard Attias, CEO of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute, on Tuesday. “Ultimately, it’s going to be based on the things that you have done, [such as], did you fundamentally go address people’s concerns?”

Chew, who spoke in a roughly 15-minute chat during the FII conclave that began on Tuesday in Riyadh, is leading TikTok’s efforts to prevent the US government from forcing the globally popular platform to divest from its Beijing-based owner ByteDance or face a ban in the US.

TikTok filed a legal challenge a month after US President Joe Biden signed legislation in April that gave the company until January to complete the sale, citing national security concerns.

A three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has been reviewing the case, with a decision expected by December to allow time for any Supreme Court appeal.

The logo of TikTok’s Chinese sibling Douyin, seen on a ByteDance building in Beijing. Photo: EPA-EFE

Chew underscored the mission of TikTok, which is to “inspire creativity and bring joy”. What makes the app stand out is its algorithm, which allows good content to become visible; its choice of having video as the main format during the smartphone era; and its belief that everybody should have the chance to publish, he said.