STATEMENT OF U.S. SEN. MARK R. WARNER

By: Office of Senator Warner

~ Ahead of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee ~ 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement ahead of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee tomorrow:

“While I appreciate Mr. Chew’s willingness to answer questions before Congress, TikTok’s lack of transparency, repeated obfuscations, and misstatements of fact have severely undermined the credibility of any statements by TikTok employees, including Mr. Chew. Congress needs to give the administration the tools to review and mitigate the harms posed by foreign technology products that come from adversarial nations. I’m proud to say that 20 senators have already signed on to the RESTRICT Act, our bipartisan legislation that would do just that.”

Sen. Warner recently introduced the RESTRICT Act along with Sen. John Thune (R-SD) to address the threat posed by the use of technology, like TikTok, from foreign adversaries. The legislation is co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Susan Collins (R-ME), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), and Thom Tillis (R-NC).