TikTok’s new CEO Chew Shou Zi takes one of the biggest jobs in tech at a critical juncture for ByteDance, analysts say
- TikTok’s US fate is currently in limbo as the Biden administration conducts a broad review of potential security concerns raised by Chinese apps
- Chew will have to navigate difficult political waters to chart a successful international future for the hit short video app
Chew Shou Zi, the newly-appointed chief executive of ByteDance-owned TikTok, has just taken on one of the biggest jobs in tech and steering the globally successful short video app through choppy political waters will prove a daunting task, say analysts.
The fast-growing app has faced regulatory challenges around the world – no more so than in the US, where former president Donald Trump deemed it a national security threat because of the data it collects. Chew’s predecessor, Kevin Mayer, resigned as TikTok’s CEO last August after only three months on the job.
In an interview given after stepping down, Mayer said he felt “screwed over” by the Trump administration, which issued two executive orders within eight days aimed at forcing ByteDance, founded by 38-year-old Zhang Yiming, to divest TikTok’s operations in the US.
TikTok’s fate is currently in limbo as the Biden administration conducts a broad review of potential security concerns raised by Chinese apps. The South China Morning Post reported earlier that ByteDance has already decided to walk away from a previous deal it agreed with Oracle and Walmart while Trump was in office.
But TikTok’s troubles are not limited to the US. India has banned the short-video platform, along with dozens of other Chinese apps, following a violent Himalayan border clash between the two countries last summer. India was previously one of the app’s fastest-growing markets.