Who is Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok?

US lawmakers are likely to subject Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, to intense questioning.

As concerns about TikTok continue to rise worldwide, leading to a potential ban in the US, attention has shifted to its mysterious CEO, Shou Zi Chew.

The Singaporean who is currently 40 years old is scheduled to appear before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday. The purpose of his appearance is to discuss the security and privacy practices of the app and its purported connections to Beijing.

Not much information is available regarding his modus operandi or the extent of his actual authority within the organization.

Vanessa Pappas, the head of operations at TikTok, took on the role of being the spokesperson for the company. She faced tough questioning from lawmakers in Congress in September over TikTok's handling of American data in China.

Last September, an article in the New York Times discussed the viewpoints of former executives from TikTok and ByteDance. They expressed that Mr. Chew has limited power when it comes to making decisions, and that the founder of ByteDance, Zhang Yiming, is the one who controls the company.

However, TikTok is currently highlighting Mr. Chew's presence in the public eye amidst the extensive scrutiny of TikTok's relationship with the Chinese government.

Last June, the company wrote a letter to lawmakers emphasizing that it functions independently from its parent company, ByteDance. The letter made it clear that its CEO is a citizen of Singapore residing in Singapore, not someone from China.

He was brought up in the urban area and went to a prestigious school where he learned Chinese. He can speak both English and Mandarin very well. He had also served in Singapore's armed forces and was assigned to a notable position as part of his obligation.

After completing his undergraduate studies in economics at University College London, Mr Chew advanced to Harvard Business School, where he received an MBA. During this period, he also took an internship at Facebook, a social media behemoth that was still in its early stages.

As per the information provided by the media, he worked at DST, an investment firm, for five years during which he led a team that invested in ByteDance in 2013. Prior to that, he was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs for two years.

Afterwards, Mr Chew played a vital part at the Chinese mobile phone megacorporation known as Xiaomi. During his time there, he held some important positions such as being its chief financial officer and international business president. He guided the company through its public debut in the year 2018.

In March 2021, he left his previous position and joined ByteDance, becoming the first individual to hold the esteemed position of chief financial officer at the renowned media conglomerate.

Only a mere 60 days later, he assumed the position of TikTok's CEO after his forerunner, Kevin Mayer, abruptly resigned due to the Trump administration's efforts to mandate the divestment of TikTok's US possessions.

Mr. Chew is currently faced with a significant obstacle in his occupation due to TikTok. American policymakers are requesting that the corporation either sell its US properties or risk being prohibited.

This problem has become a point of contention for the Chinese as well.

The Global Times, which is a media outlet backed by the Chinese state, stated in an article on Tuesday that the desire to ban TikTok is a result of a harmful American political climate. Doing so goes against the foundational beliefs of a free market economy, according to the article. The piece added that American officials and politicians view TikTok's Chinese origins as an inherent flaw or mistake.

Mr. Chew seems to be under heavy observation from both parties, causing him to initiate a strategy of trying to be more pleasant in the past few months.

In February of last year, he created his own TikTok profile @shou.time to share parts of his life. This was almost a year after he became the head of the platform. Mr. Chew now has almost 18,000 followers who have watched him attend the Super Bowl and NBA matches, meet famous people such as Bill Murray, and try to dance with the singer Ciara in an uncomfortable manner.

He has appeared in various media platforms expressing his love for playing golf and his admiration for comedian Kevin Hart. This man is married to the CEO of an investment firm, Vivian Kao, and they have two children. He mentioned in his interviews that his kids are not allowed to use TikTok since they are still young.

Lately, he has been making his way through various big American media companies, reassuring them that TikTok isn't a danger to the interests of the United States.

He has made a direct plea to TikTok's American users for assistance. In a video shared on TikTok's official account on Monday evening in Washington, he requested that they express their views to legislators in their own words.

In the video that has amassed over 500,000 likes, he states: "This is a critical juncture for us. It has the potential to remove TikTok from all of you, the 150 million users."