When TikTok CEO Shaw Zi Chew appeared before Congress to testify about how the company handles user data, he probably didn’t expect to be the latest trend in his own app.
But Chew showed such a strong performance at the hearing that he was given the highest honor that an amateur video editor can give to anyone: funk.
Nothing in 2023 had me prepared for tiktok simping for the Tiktok CEO pic.twitter.com/FM4zyEhJW2
— Baroness Jamie of Tengah-upon-nowhere (@theViscountBP) March 24, 2023
Chew has become the focus of several viral TikToks that show highlights of his speeches at congressional hearings, as well as a selection of other videos he posted before talking to politicians.
Chew received widespread support from users on both TikTok and Twitter, who found his treatment during the five-hour testimony unfair and deliberately malicious.
BREAKING: The American TikTok crowd has spoken. They're calling TikTok CEO a hero for fighting to keep their favorite app from being banned by a bunch of tech-inept old farts who are being lobbied by Facebook. pic.twitter.com/Kau5HFNTed
— Yes, it's me (@ElysiusThor) March 25, 2023
Several members of Congress seemed unfamiliar with the basic mechanics of TikTok’s business model, and one particularly strange encounter was whether TikTok could connect to home Wi-Fi.
One user compared Chew’s work to that of Mark Zuckerberg, who participated in a similar data management talk a few years ago.
https://twitter.com/MuazMohd94/status/1639511255563268096
