Who is the CEO of TikTok, asks Shou Zi Chew?

March 24, 2023March 24, 2023 vloghd portal

TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew is expected to face aggressive questioning from US lawmakers

The spotlight has now been placed on TikTok’s mysterious CEO Shou Zi Chew amid growing global suspicion of the Chinese app that could result in a US ban.

The 40-year-old Singaporean will speak on Thursday about the app’s data security and privacy policies as well as its alleged connections to Beijing before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Little is known about his methods of operation or even the extent of his influence within the business. The public face of TikTok, chief operating officer Vanessa Pappas, was questioned by Congress last September regarding US data flows to China.

According to a New York Times profile published in September, which cited former TikTok and ByteDance executives, Mr. Chew’s power to make decisions is constrained and ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming is in charge of the organization.

But now that TikTok’s ties to the Chinese government are coming under intense scrutiny, the social media platform is making Mr. Chew the center of attention in the public eye.

In a letter to lawmakers last June stressing that it operates autonomously of parent company ByteDance, the company took pains to note that he is not from China but “a Singaporean based in Singapore”.

He was born and raised in the city state, went to a prestigious Chinese-language school, and speaks Mandarin and English with ease. During his military conscription, he held the prestigious position of officer in Singapore’s armed forces. Mr. Chew graduated from University College London with a bachelor’s in economics before enrolling at Harvard Business School, where he received an MBA and also worked as an intern at Facebook when it was still a startup.

He reportedly spent five years working for the investment firm DST, where he oversaw a group that invested early in ByteDance in 2013. Additionally, he spent two years working as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.

The Chinese smartphone juggernaut Xiaomi, where Mr. Chew later served as its chief financial officer and president of its international business, hired him to lead it through its 2018 IPO.

He jumped ship to ByteDance in March 2021, becoming the first person to fill the role of chief financial officer at the media giant.

Two months later, following the sudden resignation of his predecessor Kevin Mayer due to the Trump administration’s efforts to force the sale of TikTok’s US assets, he assumed the position of TikTok CEO.

Greatest challenge

Mr Chew now faces one of the biggest challenges of his career with TikTok, as US lawmakers call for the company to divest ownership of its US assets or face a ban.

The subject has also become a source of contention for the Chinese.

State media outlet Global Times said in an opinion piece on Tuesday that the push for a TikTok ban is driven by a “toxic American political atmosphere” and would be a violation of free market principles. The article continued, “In the eyes of American officials and politicians, TikTok’s Chinese heritage is an ‘original sin’.”

Mr. Chew, who is under constant scrutiny from both parties, seems to have started something of a charm offensive recently.

Nearly a year after taking control of the platform, he created his own TikTok account, @shou.time, in February of last year to share snippets of his personal life. Since then, Mr. Chew’s nearly 18,000 followers have witnessed him attending NBA and Super Bowl events, meeting famous people like Bill Murray, and awkwardly attempting a dance with Ciara.

He has also made a direct plea for assistance to the app’s US users. He asked them to tell him what they want to say to lawmakers in a video that was uploaded on TikTok’s official account on Monday night in Washington. He states:

“This comes at a pivotal moment for us” in the video, which has received over 500,000 likes. This could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you.”