TikTok stresses its independence from China but US lawmakers are unconvinced

TikTok, a video app popular with teens, stressed its independence from China in a letter to US lawmakers but failed to convince Senator Josh Hawley, who chaired a hearing on Tuesday on the security of US citizens’ personal data.

TikTok, a unit of Chinese-based ByteDance Ltd, said in a letter to lawmakers, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, that it had hired a US-based auditing firm to analyze TikTok data security practices.