TikTok’s CEO faced an intense grilling Thursday on Capitol Hill over his social media platform’s data privacy, content algorithms and moderation.

Shou Zi Chew’s appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Committee came as the Biden administration is demanding TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, sell the video-sharing app, threatening a ban if it does not.

The Biden administration – as well as Democratic and Republican lawmakers – is concerned the Chinese government could access sensitive data about American users or influence them by pushing misinformation on the app.

A 2017 Chinese law compels companies to turn over any personal data the government believes is relevant to national security.

“From the data it collects to the content it controls, TikTok is a grave threat of foreign influence in American life,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the committee’s chairwoman. “It's been said it's like allowing the Soviet Union the power to produce Saturday morning cartoons during the Cold War, but much more powerful and much more dangerous.

"Your platform should be banned," she added.

Chew, who is from Singapore, insisted ByteDance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government. TikTok, which has more than 150 million users in the U.S., in headquartered in Singapore and Los Angeles, he noted.

Chew said in the two years he’s been TikTok’s CEO, he’s not had any conversations with Chinese government officials and has seen no evidence to suggest Beijing has access to its data.

But Chew said TikTok takes concerns about the potential of unwanted foreign access seriously and has been taking action.

Among a series of pledges he made, Chew said TikTok is working on an initiative called Project Texas, which will result in “American data stored on American soil by an American company, overseen by American personnel.”

Chew said third-party monitors will have access to TikTok’s coding to help reassure users their data is safe.

While the goal of Project Texas is to build a firewall around U.S. user data, Chew acknowledged later in the hearing that some ByteDance employees in China might currently be able to access data personal information about Americans.

Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the committee’s top Democrat, said the Project Texas plan did not ease his concerns.

“I still believe that the Beijing Communist government will still control and have the ability to influence what you do, and so this idea, this Project Texas, is simply not acceptable,” he said.

Pallone urged Congress to pass legislation, which he and Rodgers introduced last year, that would give online users greater control over their personal information, require companies to only use data needed to provide their services and increase protections for children and teenagers. He also called for reforms to Section 230, the provision in the 1996 Communications Decency Act that gives online platforms legal immunity from liability for content posted on the internet.

Rodgers challenged Chew’s assertion that TikTok was insulated from interference from the Chinese government or the ruling Chinese Communist Party, citing reports that some ByteDance executives and a board member have ties to the party.

Several lawmakers also brought up reports that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating allegations that TikTok employees spied on journalists and that a member of TikTok’s Trust and Safety Department was recorded saying in a 2021 meeting, “Everything is seen in China.”

Chew claimed many reports about the social media app have been inaccurate. On the allegations of spying on journalists, he said TikTok does “condone the effort by certain former employees to access U.S. Tiktok user data. … We condemn these actions.”

Lawmakers also pressed Chew on a Wall Street Journal report Thursday in which a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokeswoman said Beijing would oppose the forced sale of TikTok and need to approve it because it would involve exporting technology.

“So the CCP believes they have the final say over your company,” Rodgers said. “I have zero confidence in your assertion that ByteDance and TikTok are not beholden to the CCP.”

Chew said he disagreed with the China spokeswoman’s comments.

Some committee members, meanwhile, focused their attacks on TikTok’s content moderation and algorithms, which they say promote harmful and extreme content.

Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., showed a TikTok post of an animated gun firing bullets. The post included the caption “Me asf at the, House Energy and Commerce Committee on 03/23/2023.” It also used a hashtag with Rodgers’ name.

“This video has been up for 41 days,” Cammack said. “It is a direct threat to the chairwoman of this committee, the people in this room, and yet it still remains on the platform. And you expect us to believe that you are capable of maintaining the  … privacy and security of 150 million Americans when you can't even protect people in this room?”

Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., alleged that 16-year-old Chase Nasca, whose parents attended the hearing, killed himself last year after TikTok recommended videos to him suggesting suicide. Bilirakis showed a montage of suicide-related content found on the app.

“The content on Chase’s ‘For You’ page was not a window to discovery, as you boldly claimed,” Bilirakis said. “ … His ‘For You’ page was sadly a window to discover suicide.

“Would you share this content with your children?” he asked Chew.

The TikTok CEO said it was “devastating” to hear about Nasca’s death. He said TikTok takes such issues seriously and recommends help resources to users based on certain search terms.

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said she found examples of potentially harmful health misinformation on the app. When Chew said such content is not allowed, DeGette responded, “I'm sorry to report it is on your platform, though.”

“You have current controls, but the current controls are not working to keep this information mainly from young people but from Americans in general,” she said.

Chew conceded TikTok is not perfect, adding, “This is a problem that faces our industry that we need to really invest and address this.”

But he also touted the company’s work to protect young people by implementing a default 60-minute daily limit for users 18 and under as well as parent tools.

“Many of those measures are firsts for the social media industry,” he said.