Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
TikTok is rolling out a charm offensive ahead of Thursday’s congressional hearing, putting CEO Shou Zi Chew in users’ feeds to warn them about a looming ban. Chew posted a minute-long video to the ByteDance subsidiary’s official TikTok account, rallying users to defend the app.
Chew’s video outlines points he’ll probably hit in his House Energy and Commerce Committee testimony later this week, where legislators will question whether the app’s Chinese ownership makes it untrustworthy. That includes the news that TikTok now has 150 million American users — something news outlets recently reported based on advance information about his testimony. “That’s almost half of the US coming to TikTok,” he observes, noting the number includes 5…
