CEO of Tiktok, Bytedance
Search every verified Shou Chew interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Shou Chew, CEO of TikTok, has continued to address concerns about data security, child safety, and the platform's relationship with the Chinese government. In a March 2023 appearance before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, Chew stated that ByteDance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government, describing it as a private company. He outlined "Project Texas," an initiative he said involves storing U.S. user data on Oracle servers in the United States, overseen by American personnel. Chew also testified that TikTok does not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government and would not honor a request to do so. During a January 2025 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on child online safety, Chew described TikTok's policies, including a 13-and-up age requirement, default private accounts for users under 16, and a 60-minute screen time limit for users under 18. He stated that the company had invested more than $2 billion in trust and safety efforts that year and employed over 40,000 trust and safety professionals globally. In other public appearances, Chew has emphasized TikTok's economic impact and its use of AI. At the APEC CEO Summit in November 2024, he said the company had invested over $1.5 billion to secure U.S. user data and planned to spend 12 billion euros over the next decade on data protection in Europe. He also stated that TikTok supported nearly a quarter-million jobs in the U.S. and contributed almost $24 billion to the country's GDP. At the FII8 conference in October 2024, Chew discussed the platform's recommendation algorithm, describing it as based on machine learning and interest signals rather than follower counts. He also noted that 125,000 businesses in Saudi Arabia use the platform. Chew has stated that the company is investing billions of dollars in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, including a $12.2 million commitment to support small and medium-sized businesses.
“We have invested more than $1.5 billion to secure the data of our US community and we will spend 12 billion EUR over the next decade to protect the private information of our users across Europe.”
“Collectively this business community supports almost a quarter million jobs in communities across America and added almost $24 billion to the country's GDP last year alone, along with almost $5.5 billion in tax revenue.”
“If you do anything deceptive using AI—personation or anything dangerous—it violates the guidelines and we take it down. We will ask creators to label AI-produced content and if they don't label it we will take measures to reduce the reach they get.”
“Our recommendation algorithm has always been based on machine learning, and recent advances have shown the opportunities are much bigger and coming faster; AI makes it easier to translate an idea in someone's head into a piece of content, unlocking many more people to express themselves and reach audiences.”
“The idea was to present content to users not based on who you followed but based on interest signals — if you have a good message, you don't need any followers to go viral.”
“Today in the Kingdom we have 125,000 businesses that use our platform; businesses with good products and a good message can find it very easy to get access to a large audience, and most of them don't pay us — they just post content.”
“We disagree with that. The way TikTok is set up today — first of all TikTok is not available for download in China; it operates outside of China. The data for TikTok users is stored in Virginia and in Singapore with the backup in Singapore, and we believe that we have a very rigorous and robust system to protect the da...”
“We believe that our approach to all the governments and regulators around the world is to be collaborative and to be very transparent, to be available to explain what we do and who we are and answer any questions that they have. That approach has been very beneficial for us over the course of the last few years.”
“Tik Tok is not available in mainland China. We have moved the data into an American cloud infrastructure. It is controlled by ByteDance, which is subject to this law.”
“Senator, that is just not accurate. There is not a difference between what kids see in China and what kids see here. Senator, Tik Tok is not available in China. It's a separate experience there.”
“None, Senator. That analysis is flawed, has been debunked by other external sources like the Koala Institute. Fundamentally, a few things happen here: not all videos carry hashtags, that's the first thing. The second thing is that you cannot selectively choose a few words within a certain time.”
“Our algorithm does not suppress any content simply based on... like I said, I think this analysis is flawed. You're selectively choosing some words over some periods. We haven't been around as long.”
“By default all new U.S. data is already stored in the Oracle Cloud infrastructure, so it's in this protected U.S. environment. Our data has never been stored in China.”
“We're actually allowing third-party reviewers to come in and review our source code — I don't know any other company that does this. We are also allowing researchers to study the output which is the content on our platform.”
“That's why I am delighted to announce that we are going to invest billions of dollars into Indonesia and Southeast Asia over the next few years; this commitment includes a $12.2 million investment to support more than 120,000 small and medium‑sized businesses, entrepreneurs and youth over the next three years.”
The panel "THIRD BOARD OF CHANGEMAKERS: AI" took place at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh on October 29, 2024, during the 8th Edition of the Future Investment Initiative. #fII8 AI is quickly moving from a topic of theoretical debate to a core driver of business strategy and global competition. According to McKinsey, global AI adoption surged to 72% in 2024, a significant increase from the 50% adoption rate observed in previous years. How can companies leverage AI’s potential to create new value, accelerate growth, and build the high-efficiency business models tha…
Conversation with Shou Chew, "TITAN OF INDUSTRY" took place at the 8th edition of the Future Investment Initiative at King ...
TikTok CEO Success Story | Shou Zi Chew Exclusive Interview | Celebrity Conversations 2024 In this exclusive interview, we sit down with Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, to discuss his incredible success story and journey to becoming the head of one of the world’s most popular social media platforms. Learn about his leadership strategies, vision for the future of TikTok, and the challenges he's overcome in the fast-paced world of tech and entertainment. Whether you're a TikTok creator, entrepreneur, or someone curious about the future of social media, this conversation provides invaluable i…
Senator Ted Cruz, in a Senate hearing on protecting children online, social media executives including Mark Zuckerberg and Shou Chew were grilled about their policies and how to better protect kids from the dangerous content found on social media platforms. #politics #socialmedia #facebook
At today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew painted a positive picture of his company in his opening statement. Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more: https://account.forbes.com/membership... Stay Connected Forb…
Shou Chew, Chief Executive Officer of TikTok Inc., opening statement at Senate Judiciary hearing on Online Child Sexual Exploitation. Watch complete hearing here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?532641-... Download the FREE C-SPAN Now App. https://www.c-span.org/c-spanNow/ Discover the C-SPAN Video Library at https://www.c-span.org/quickguide/ Explore C-SPAN's Free Educational Resources at https://www.c-span.org/classroom/ C-SPAN: Created by Cable in 1979. Offered as a public service. Support C-SPAN by Donating Today: https://donorbox.org/support-c-span?u... Subscribe to our YouTube chann…
What makes Tik Tok content so viral? CEO Shou Chew dives into the inner workings of its algorithm, and talks about the challenges facing the app: from content moderation to digital addiction -- and delves into the thorny stuff -- issues like data privacy and government manipulation. In a wide-ranging conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, Shou tells stories about the TikTok creators he loves, and speaks personally about this commitment to creativity and community. After the talk, Sherrell delves a little deeper into the implications of TikTok’s presence is society. The TED Audio Collec…
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew makes remarks during a launch event launch event about socio-economic impact report in Southeast Asia, in Jakarta, Indonesia. A news conference follows. #Reuters #topnews #topstories #videonews #TikTok #ShouZiChew #socialmedia
TikTok CEO Shou Chew dives into how the trend-setting video app and cultural phenomenon works — from what distinguishes its algorithm and drives virality to the challenges of content moderation and digital addiction. In a wide-ranging conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, he tells stories about the TikTok creators he loves and digs into thorny issues like data privacy and government manipulation — as well as speaking personally about his commitment to inspiring creativity and building community. If you love watching TED Talks like this one, become a TED Member to support our mission o…
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