Congressman says TikTok backed out of a meeting to avoid child safety questions
Congressman says TikTok backed out of a meeting to avoid child safety questions
国会议员称 TikTok 为规避儿童安全问题质询而临时取消会议
TikTok backed out of a congressional committee’s “public roundtable” set for this month over concerns it would be asked about child safety practices, the chair of the committee said. 据众议院委员会主席称，TikTok 因担心被问及儿童安全相关做法，已退出原定于本月举行的国会委员会“公开圆桌会议”。
After negotiating “in good faith” to bring TikTok’s chief security officer before the House Select Committee on China to answer questions about Chinese government access to Americans’ data and the TikTok algorithm, Chair John Moolenaar (R-MI) said in a statement Thursday that the company reversed course. “Now, TikTok is refusing to appear citing its own desire to avoid broader scrutiny of its child safety practices,” Moolenaar wrote. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 众议院美中战略竞争特设委员会主席约翰·穆勒纳尔（John Moolenaar，共和党籍，密歇根州）周四发表声明称，在双方就邀请 TikTok 首席安全官出席委员会听证会、回答有关中国政府获取美国用户数据及 TikTok 算法的问题进行“真诚”协商后，该公司却改变了主意。穆勒纳尔写道：“现在，TikTok 以希望避免其儿童安全做法受到更广泛审查为由，拒绝出席。”TikTok 未立即回应置评请求。
TikTok reneged on its commitment on August 27th, Moolenaar told Bloomberg in an interview — a day after Meta reached its sweeping settlement with state attorneys general and called on TikTok and YouTube to follow suit. All three of those tech platforms still have many pending suits focused on their child safety practices. “They claimed that in light of Meta’s settlement with state attorneys general, they wouldn’t be able to answer questions on child-safety issues,” Moolenaar told Bloomberg, even though he said the meeting was not set to focus on that topic. 穆勒纳尔在接受彭博社采访时表示，TikTok 于 8 月 27 日违背了其承诺——就在前一天，Meta 与各州总检察长达成了全面和解，并呼吁 TikTok 和 YouTube 也效仿此举。这三家科技平台目前仍面临许多针对其儿童安全做法的未决诉讼。穆勒纳尔告诉彭博社：“他们声称，鉴于 Meta 与各州总检察长达成的和解，他们将无法回答有关儿童安全的问题。”尽管他强调，此次会议原本并未计划讨论该议题。
Moolenaar said in his statement that the committee would attempt to reschedule. “We will continue to work in good faith to protect the American people and ensure TikTok executives publicly address the Committee’s questions regarding its operations and safeguards – consistent with the requirements of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act – before the end of the year.” 穆勒纳尔在声明中表示，委员会将尝试重新安排会议时间。“我们将继续本着诚意开展工作，以保护美国人民，并确保 TikTok 高管在年底前公开回应委员会关于其运营和保障措施的质询——这符合《保护美国人免受外国对手控制应用程序侵害法》的要求。”
The law Moolenaar references is the one that briefly banned TikTok from the US, before enforcement was repeatedly delayed by President Donald Trump. Ultimately, a deal to make its US service part of a new entity closed in January, theoretically resolving the security issues the law cited. But lawmakers on the Select Committee had lingering concerns even after that happened. In a statement after the deal closed, Moolenaar said TikTok would need to answer questions about Chinese government influence on the algorithm and US data protection to the committee directly. 穆勒纳尔所提到的法律曾一度在美国封禁 TikTok，但在唐纳德·特朗普总统任内，该法的执行被多次推迟。最终，一项将 TikTok 美国业务并入新实体的协议于 1 月达成，从理论上解决了该法律所引用的安全问题。但即便如此，特设委员会的议员们仍存有疑虑。在协议达成后的声明中，穆勒纳尔表示，TikTok 仍需直接向委员会回答有关中国政府对算法的影响以及美国数据保护的相关问题。