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March 25, 2024

The latest viral trend on TikTok is Defending TikTok.

“It’s time to fight the TikTok ban,” read the TikTok caption video Here’s a post from Thursday about the app’s future. “#savetiktok #keeptiktok.”

“Do I think TikTok should be banned? No,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Friday in her first TikTok video, which won over 3.7 million views.

Other TikTok users shared video clips of the app’s chief executive, Shou Chew, to the tune of popular songs and with the “fancam” treatment usually reserved for celebrities.

On TikTok in recent days, users have rushed to the defense of the popular video app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance. In hundreds of videos, they argue that the app should not be banned in the U.S. due to national security concerns, question why U.S. social media apps don’t face similar scrutiny, and express concern that their First Amendment rights are under threat attack.

It comes after lawmakers and the Biden administration grew concerned about whether TikTok provided sensitive data about U.S. users to Chinese authorities. Mr. Chew appeared before Congress on Thursday and was grilled for about five hours as lawmakers questioned whether TikTok was spying on Americans on behalf of the Chinese government, endangering young people with toxic content and invading people’s privacy.

Zhou said TikTok had plans to protect U.S. user data and denied that the Chinese government controlled ByteDance. But his answer was largely ridiculed by lawmakers, fueling calls for TikTok to be banned entirely from the Apple and Google app stores in the United States. The Biden administration has also pushed for TikTok to be separated from ByteDance through a sale, a move China opposes, or to try to reach an agreement with the U.S. government on data security.

But for TikTok itself, lawmakers’ concerns have caused a stir.

“Congressional jobs need age restrictions because it’s so embarrassing,” one user wrote in the caption video Posted on Friday.

Many are staunchly opposed to banning TikTok in the United States. doctor, self defense expert, parenting influencer shared the video with others saying they were already working on how to maintain access to the app even if it was banned, and accuse Criticism of Facebook and Google.

The hashtag #TikTokBan had 1.7 billion views on Monday, up from 983 million March 18.

Many TikTok users also supported Mr Chow, a Singaporean. They highlight lawmakers asking the executive a yes-or-no question and then interrupting him. They also described Mr. Zhou’s response as a victory for uninformed lawmakers who sometimes ask basic questions about the internet.

They aired their displeasure in the video. Some users combined old photos of Mr. Chew and clips of the hearing with viral TikTok songs, like Chris Brown’s “affected by itOne user posted a video of “Schitt’s Creek” character David Ross sighing and rolling his eyes in contempt for the lawmaker’s question. One account shared a video child Responds to the clip angrily.

That response may be what TikTok is hoping for.Zhou, who has largely avoided the public eye as chief executive, posted a video on TikTok last week master account And told US users that lawmakers “can take TikTok away from all of you.” He released another video after the hearing, reiterating TikTok’s message to lawmakers. Each video has more than 25 million views.

“It’s clear that much of America hasn’t gone through the hearings that many members of Congress and political insiders have,” TikTok spokesman Brooke Oberwetter said in a statement.

Mr Zhou’s message apparently took to heart some of his TikTok-posting fans, who found him charming. A video splices a photo of Mr. Chew to the beat of the lyrics of K-pop girl group New Jeans: “Omg, Omg, I really hope he makes it through.” The caption reads, “Come and help us oppa.” , which refers to the Korean term for an older male. It has over 4.3 million views.

Others called Zhou, 40, a married mother of two, “zaddy,” a slang term that rhymes with “dad” for an older, attractive man.

“If TikTok is bad, why is he okay???” one user release In a video with over three million views. “Skinny chews and doesn’t chew, he wolfs it down,” said a comment that garnered about 29,000 likes on another video in support of the TikTok chief executive.

Mr. Zhou had fewer than 20,000 followers on his personal TikTok account on March 21, but now has 557,000, according to social media analytics firm Trendpop.

TikTok users also laughed at some of the issues raised by lawmakers.One of the targets of their rage was Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., who ask Mr. Zhou asked whether TikTok “has access to the home Wi-Fi network” at a hearing last week. The exchange — including Chew’s confused response, “only when the user turns on Wi-Fi” — was shared in multiple posts.

“We…not entirely sure… Rep. Richard Hudson knows how TikTok or WiFi works?” read one headline. Another featured a series of wide-eyed blushing emojis.



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