Forward of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s much-anticipated testimony in the USA Home of Representatives as we speak, the embattled tech agency carried out a full-court press on Capitol Hill. This included paying to deliver TikTok influencers face-to-face with their house state lawmakers, staffers, and journalists—and naturally, sharing their journey with their collective viewers of some 60 million followers.
TikTok lined journey, accommodations, meals, and shuttle rides to and from the Capitol for dozens of influencers, in accordance with the creators and the corporate itself. Every social media star was additionally invited to deliver a plus one—whether or not they flew in from Oklahoma, hopped the Acela from New York, or drove in from their suburban Washington house. TikTok spokesperson Jamal Brown confirms that “TikTok lined journey bills for all creators and a visitor.”
“Any obstacles 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 underneath 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 supplied as a part of the journey to Washington, however seemingly everybody acquired 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 technique 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 help their livelihoods,” TikTok spokesperson Jamal Brown says. “A US ban on TikTok might have a direct impression on the livelihoods of thousands and thousands of Individuals. Lawmakers in Washington debating TikTok ought to hear firsthand from folks whose lives could be straight affected by their selections.”
The practically dozen influencers WIRED spoke with didn’t disguise the truth that TikTok introduced them to Washington to help 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 info.”
Alexandra Doten, an knowledgeable in house communications who goes by @astro_alexandra on the app, is predicated close to Washington, DC. However she says she additionally acquired help from the corporate. “I acquired the lodge too!” she says. “I don’t know. They only shuttle me there.”
Whereas Doten was capable of meet along with her congressman, Maryland’s Glen Ivy, this week, the spotlight for her was assembly astronaut-turned-senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. She additionally acquired a real style of life on the Capitol when the state’s different senator, Unbiased Kirsten Synema, despatched a staffer to fulfill 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 menace to US nationwide safety.
Chew is the newest 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 expertise banned on US authorities units or been accused of being a puppet for the Chinese language Communist Get together.
