CEO of Tiktok, Bytedance
Shou Chew, CEO TikTok, at the APEC CEO Summit 2024
About Shou Chew
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.
Transcript (28 segments)
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Shou Chew0:04
Thank you very much. Good morning everyone. It's an honor to be part of this conversation about the future of Asia Pacific, and I congratulate the APEC host for a truly stellar summit. I want to thank the government and the people of Peru for their extraordinary hospitality. It's so exciting and enlightening to be among so many leaders who are shaping the future of a region that is increasingly vital to the world in terms of culture, in terms of influence, and in terms of economics. All of the engines driving development and success are represented here today, and we are engaged in discussions that will help determine our direction and forge partnerships and collaborations with the power to create new opportunities and growth on an ever-expanding horizon.
Now, of course, technology will obviously be a key component in this process, and we are grateful that social media now has a seat at this very impressive table. It's a reflection of our growing role in society, our economic impact, and our ability to raise awareness and drive crucial conversations about issues that need the world's attention.
Now, TikTok is unique in the social media space. Our platform is grounded in optimism and guided by our mission to inspire creativity and to bring joy. Our goal is to unlock free expression and give everyone a voice and a chance to be heard. We do this by offering a window to discover, a canvas to create, and bridges to connect with each other. In essence, we provide the digital real estate and resources for people to build communities, for them to build businesses, audiences, movements, and their future. We encourage and empower them to use their talents and imaginations to create their heart's desire and to explore, engage, and experience the world around them.
The TikTok today looks very different than when it was first launched. In fact, it's dramatically different than when I joined the company a few years back, because our users are driving and designing it every single day. It is their collective contributions that define what TikTok is, and it's really thrilling to watch the evolution of this global community. It's both challenging and exhilarating for everyone at TikTok to keep pace with our users in terms of creating the technology and the tools to help them realize their boldest ambitions.
TikTok is a platform of possibilities. It is home to more than a billion dreamers and seekers, students and teachers, entertainers and entrepreneurs today, and it crosses all generations, genders, and geographies. It's a very public global community that offers an unprecedented window on the world, along with significant opportunity to reach, to engage, and to understand consumers and constituents who will ultimately determine the success of our efforts to drive progress in Asia Pacific and beyond.
What our users create and what they share, how they engage with content and with each other, tells us what they want. It tells us what they need, and it tells us what matters to them. They are on TikTok today because they want to be seen, they want to be heard, and they have valuable lessons for all of us as we work together to build a successful and shared future.
I am happy to report that the strength and resilience of the human spirit is on full display across our platform every day. There is so much hope, so much joy, and so much compassion in our community, along with this fundamental belief in their ability to change things for the better in their own lives and in the lives of others. Because in a world that's increasingly defined by divisions and differences, people from all walks of life and all parts of the world are turning to TikTok to find connection, find common ground, and find community.
This human drive to connect is so strong that perfect strangers organically come together on our platform around common interests and shared values, from things like the joy and delight of discovering a new artist to the crucial social and climate issues that challenge the world. Our users want to belong. They want to share their talents, their stories, and their interests. They want to matter. They want to be part of something that's bigger than themselves. They're looking for ways to make a real difference, and they will answer the call to action both online and in the real world.
Now, the key to engaging the TikTok community is authenticity, which is why it's one of our core values. Authentic storytelling, users sharing their unique experiences and their perspectives, is the foundation of our platform and one of the things that sets us apart and makes us such a relevant part of people's daily lives. Again, it comes down to the importance of human connection. You may disagree with someone's point of view, but you cannot dismiss the lived experience. Sharing that personal experience can touch hearts, it can open minds to new ideas, different points of view, acceptance, and tolerance.
Another thing that makes TikTok different than other platforms is our focus on discovery. Our recommendation algorithm is designed to be a true discovery engine. It allows the members in our global community to discover new interests, new perspectives, and new talents. And for those who use the app, you know what I mean. All of these offer new sources of joy. Creators from all around the world come to TikTok to be discovered, to find an audience, to live their dreams of fame and fortune.
Now, in addition to launching countless global stars, the discovery and authenticity that define the TikTok experience have also made the platform a home to serious issues that are vital to the global good. Our users engage in discussions that raise awareness, that drive debate, and advocate for real-world solutions.
As part of our ongoing efforts to invite users to learn more and to get involved in issues that matter to all of us, we launched a multifaceted campaign that coincided with last year's COP28 UN climate change conference. We brought creators from all around the world to the summit in Dubai, where they inspired our global community with content that showcased the important conversations that are taking place at the conference. They also worked with nonprofit partners on authentic content designed to drive positive impact. Our users could follow the efforts on @TikTokForGood, which is our social impact hub, and learn ways in which they can also be part of the solution.
Now, as part of this campaign, our users created almost 200,000 videos featuring real-world storytelling from people who are deeply knowledgeable about this issue and those who are actively working in the space, such as the climate scientists, for example, who posted from Antarctica to explain their research and share their findings to date. Content with popular hashtags such as #ClimateChange, #ClimateAction, and #SustainableLiving have generated more than 6.6 billion, 2.5 billion, and 1.9 billion views on the platform respectively. These are very large numbers.
We're continuing the momentum with a new climate action campaign launching in concert with this year's COP29 climate change conference taking place in Baku as we speak.
Now, one of my personal goals as CEO is to ensure TikTok earns trust and has a strong reputation for a positive impact in the world as an unparalleled platform for creativity, free speech, and as a good global corporate citizen. There's several components to this commitment, starting with our sustainability efforts to reduce our physical footprint on this planet. You can see this effort in action as we expand our operations. For example, our new data center in Norway will not only help us secure the private information of our European users, it will also run 100% on renewable energy.
We are also committed to championing, empowering, and protecting free speech, while of course preventing user harm. It's fundamental to our global community and another core value of this company. TikTok is defined and driven by the creativity and free expression of our users.
Our efforts to provide a safe, authentic environment and positive impact extends to creating economic opportunities that now empower people to change their lives and support their families, ultimately contributing to their communities. Every day, more entrepreneurs turn to TikTok for the platform, the tools, the support to launch their ideas, build businesses, and lift the limits of their success.
In Southeast Asia today, more than 15 million businesses are already using TikTok to turn online views into real-world growth, and those businesses credit their presence on TikTok for increasing revenue by 50%. There are 5 million small and midsize businesses in the United States using TikTok the same way. Collectively, this business community supports almost a quarter million jobs in communities across America. They've added almost $24 billion to the country's GDP last year alone, along with almost $5.5 billion in tax revenue.
Economic success on TikTok looks different for everyone. It's unique and individual, just like our user base. I met a creator here in Lima just the other day, Paola Gagos. She's a great example. She traded her tourism career here in Peru for online success as a very talented calligrapher and teacher. Today, she has a following of about 9 million people on TikTok, and she's using our platform to reach a global audience beyond this country to showcase her work and drive interest in her art as well as enrollment in her online courses.
Now, her massive popularity on TikTok was recently recognized by the New York Times as helping drive the revival of calligraphy as an art form. Her success has also earned her many awards for best creative entrepreneurship from Women Power Peru, as well as the best national vlogger at the Cusco Webfest. She's just one of the many talented creators and business owners on TikTok from Asia Pacific and Latin America who are here today at this summit. I encourage you to hear the stories about the innovative way that they are using our platform to create opportunities and drive their success.
Now, the cornerstone of our success as a platform and as a company and a corporate citizen is trust. That's why we are doing everything in our power to try and become one of the most trusted companies in the world, recognized for doing things in the right way to inspire confidence in our integrity and faith in our actions to serve and support our global community. These efforts will take many forms, starting with transparency and a willingness to engage with all stakeholders to share information and allay their concerns.
Now, of course, there are real issues to resolve in terms of security and safety, and meeting these challenges in the future will require a comprehensive, collaborative, ongoing effort across public and private sectors. Now, as the industry leader when it comes to online safety and data security, TikTok adds significant value to this vital work along with real-world expertise in creating effective solutions.
One thing we can all agree on, for example, is the need to protect younger users online. Now, as a parent of three children myself, I feel this responsibility deeply and personally, and I'm proud of the safeguards that TikTok has embedded in our platform. We don't allow children under the age of 13 on our platform, and we restrict the features available to members of our community who are under 17 years old. Now, they can still have fun, but the experience on our platform looks very different from mine or yours. Among other things, they cannot live stream on our platform, their screen time is limited, and the content that they create cannot be served as a recommendation to the global TikTok community. We establish these guidelines with the help of child development experts, and we also empower parents to decide what is appropriate for their own teenagers, allowing them to add additional limits or monitoring.
We work really hard to provide a safe online experience for all our users by keeping inappropriate content off our platform. Content created to misinform and to manipulate, to foment hate and rage, to hurt and to harm, this kind of content has no place on our platform, no place in our community, and we actively and aggressively combat it in all forms. In the recent three-month period, we've removed 136 million videos that violated our standards. We got rid of 96% of them before anyone even had the chance to report them, and 77% of these videos were removed before a single user had a chance to view them. We will continue to enhance our efforts to become even more effective at protecting our community from bad actors.
Now, protecting our community also means protecting their private information and keeping it out of the hands of those who have no right to it, those who do not have a user's permission to access that kind of information. The security of our user data is non-negotiable. It is one of our core principles determining our actions and driving TikTok to the forefront of data security innovation. On this particular issue, our goals are aligned with public sector leaders who are also focused on protecting online safety.
Getting all these right matters for us. It is imperative to earning and maintaining public trust. It's also a strategic advantage. Providing the strongest protection in the social media space is one more way to differentiate TikTok from any other platforms. We're backing our commitment with significant effort and resources, so these are not just words. Now, 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.
Now, for us, the data security regulations and requirements being established in different regions are a good starting point, a baseline, a foundation that we will build upon to protect our community and to serve our users, the same way we continually innovate to create tools and features that empower their businesses, support their creativity, and ensure a safe, enjoyable online experience for everyone.
More than a billion people are building their future on TikTok because they trust us. They trust us to live up to our mission and our values, and they trust us to support and protect their freedom of expression. They trust us to lead the industry in terms of online safety and data protection, and we will continue to earn that trust. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you.