Forward of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s much-anticipated testimony in the US Home of Representatives at the moment, the embattled tech agency performed a full-court press on Capitol Hill. This included paying to carry TikTok influencers face-to-face with their residence state lawmakers, staffers, and journalists, in addition to sharing their journey with their collective viewers of some 60 million followers.
TikTok coated journey, inns, meals, and shuttle rides to and from the Capitol for dozens of influencers, in response to the creators and the corporate itself. Every social media star was additionally invited to carry a plus one—whether or not they flew in from Oklahoma, hopped the Acela from New York, or drove in from their suburban Washington residence. TikTok spokesperson Jamal Brown confirms that “TikTok coated journey bills for all creators and a visitor.”
“Any limitations to getting right here they helped cowl,” says Tiffany Yu, a Los Angeles-based influencer and incapacity advocate tapped to talk yesterday at a extremely orchestrated press convention below the Capitol’s majestic dome.
Whereas some influencers report paying their very own airfare to Washington, everybody we talked to took the free lodge. It’s unclear exactly what people have been provided as a part of the journey to Washington, however seemingly everybody obtained one perk or one other. Past the greater than 30 influencers in attendance, together with their journey buddies, WIRED counted 10 different individuals who have been, in a method or one other, on the Capitol on behalf of TikTok.
“Greater than 150 million Individuals, together with 5 million US companies, depend on TikTok to innovate, discover group, and assist their livelihoods,” spokesperson Brown says. “A US ban on TikTok may have a direct affect on the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Individuals. Lawmakers in Washington debating TikTok ought to hear firsthand from folks whose lives can be straight affected by their selections.”
The almost dozen influencers WIRED spoke with didn’t cover the truth that TikTok introduced them to Washington to assist the corporate. (The plan was first reported by Politico and The Data.) “They took us right here, however we’re not being paid,” says Jorge Alverez, a psychological well being advocate from New Jersey. TikTok “paid for transportation—that’s additionally public data.”
Alexandra Doten, an skilled in area communications who goes by @astro_alexandra on the app, relies close to Washington, DC. However she says she additionally obtained assist from the corporate. “I obtained the lodge too!” she says. “I don’t know. They simply shuttle me there.”
Whereas Doten was capable of meet along with her congressman, Maryland’s Glenn Ivey, this week, the spotlight for her was assembly astronaut-turned-senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. She additionally obtained a real style of life on the Capitol when the state’s different senator, Kirsten Synema, despatched a staffer to satisfy with the influencers on her behalf. It’s unclear if their goodwill tour will sway any of TikTok’s numerous congressional critics, who declare the app poses a risk to US nationwide safety.
Chew is the most recent in a line of Large Tech executives who’ve needed to face hostile (if typically uninformed) lawmakers. However in contrast to Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg or Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, Chew is the one CEO who has had know-how banned on US authorities units or been accused of being a puppet for the Chinese language Communist Celebration.