Get ahead of TikTok Shou Zi Chew’s CEO much-anticipated testimony In the U.S. House of Representatives today, the struggling tech company conducted a court-wide press conference on Capitol Hill. This includes paying TikTok influencers to meet face-to-face with legislators, employees, and journalists from their home states, as well as share their journey with an audience that includes about 60 million followers.
According to the creators and the company itself, TikTok has provided travel, hotels, meals, and shuttle services to and from the Capitol for dozens of influencers. Each social media star is also invited to bring one plus one—whether they’re flying in from Oklahoma, hopping an Acela from New York, or driving in from their upstate Washington home. TikTok spokesperson Jamal Brown confirmed that “TikTok has covered travel expenses for all creators and guests.”
Tiffany Yu, a Los Angeles influencer and disability advocate tapped to speak yesterday at an elaborately choreographed press conference under the majestic dome of the Capitol, said: All barriers to getting here were covered by them.
While some influencers said they paid for their own plane tickets to Washington, those we spoke with got free hotel stays. It’s unclear exactly what people were offered as part of the trip to Washington, but everyone seems to have received one privilege or another. In addition to the more than 30 influencers in attendance, along with their companions, WIRED counted 10 other people who, in one way or another, were at the Capitol on behalf of TikTok.
“More than 150 million Americans, including 5 million American businesses, rely on TikTok to innovate, find community, and support their livelihoods,” said spokesman Brown. “A US ban on TikTok could have a direct impact on the livelihoods of millions of Americans. Lawmakers in Washington are debating TikTok should hear directly from those whose lives they live. will be directly affected by their decisions.”
The nearly dozen influencers WIRED spoke to made no secret of the fact that TikTok sent them to Washington to support the company. (The plan was first reported by politics And Information.) “They brought us here, but we didn’t get paid,” says Jorge Alverez, a mental health advocate from New Jersey. TikTok “paid for shipping — that is also public information.”
Alexandra Doten, a space communications specialist who uses @astro_alexandra on the app, is based near Washington, DC. But she says she also gets support from the company. “I have a hotel too!” she speaks. “I don’t know. They just dropped me off there.
While Doten was able to meet her congressman, Glenn Ivey of Maryland, this week the highlight for her was meeting senator turned astronaut Mark Kelly of Arizona. She also got a real experience of life on the Capitol when another state senator, Kirsten Synema, sent a staff member to meet influencers on her behalf. It’s not clear if their goodwill trip swayed any of TikTok’s congressional critics, who say the app poses a threat to US national security.
Chew is the latest among Big Tech executives who have faced hostile (if often uninformed) lawmakers. But unlike Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg or Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, Chew is the only CEO to be banned from using the technology on US government devices or accused of being a puppet for the Chinese Communist Party.
