Last week before the competent committee of the American Congress for reasons of national security, its chief executive tik tak he seemed to be smiling and seemingly relaxed, “giving away” that he was not alone in this battle for technological survival.

Whether he will convince the already divided cross-party ombudsman on the issue remains to be seen. However, what is certain is that Su Tzu Chiu was trained by an “army” of experts and officials so that he could rise to the occasion.

So, according to Politico, the leader from Singapore was trained by former members of the investigative committee and assistants to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy and his predecessor Nancy Pelosi. Andrew Wright, former head of the Biden-Harris transition legal policy team and current partner at law firm K&L Gates, served as counsel. Prior to the March 23 hearing, Chu held meetings with former lawmakers, including Republican Jeff Denham, Democrat Bart Gordon and Joe Crowley.

The battle to survive the most popular social media platform in the United States is an example of how a wealthy foreign company can use its financial power to build a powerful network of influence and how lobbying works to protect the company. which is at the epicenter of geopolitical fires.

The campaign to save TikTok has been going on for years, at least since 2018, long before the question of TikTok and its parent ByteDance’s alleged ties to Beijing was raised, Politico’s investigation revealed. According to the testimony of at least 25 people, including lobbyists and parliamentarians in the United States and Europe, this campaign was methodically built huge pressure mechanism with interconnections with institutions, government agencies and dignitaries.

“The Avengers Team”

In 2019, a recruiter representing TikTok described the terms “superheroes» company goals. As he told a Washington lobbyist he approached for a job, the company was looking to create an “Avengers Squad.”

“They wanted to understand how American tech companies are organized, what kind of consultants they hire, who controls those consultants, how executives are informed,” he said.

TikTok tried to cheat some businesses’ reservations by paying generously. A second Washington lobbyist, also on condition of anonymity, was asked bluntly by the company, “How much do you want?”, ultimately rejecting the offer.

But this particular approach has worked for others in Washington, London, Brussels, where the company faces just as serious, though less significant, regulatory challenges as it does in America.

In Washington alone, more than 35 people lobbied the federal government on behalf of ByteDance and TikTok in the last quarter of 2022, including senators and members of the House of Representatives, according to Politico.

Across the Atlantic TikTok PR people has almost 40 peoplein Brussels, London, Dublin, Paris, Milan and other major cities.

To spearhead its European strategy, in late 2019 the company hired Theo Bertram, a former chief Google lobbyist and former adviser to former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. In the fall of 2020, he appointed Caroline Greer, who had lobbying experience in telecommunications companies, to head operations in Brussels.

And recently in Washington, TikTok was able to hire SKDK, a public relations and political consulting firm with a formidable Democratic Party network that turned down a similar offer in 2020, as well as Michael Leiter, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. .

Despite the political turmoil, but also under the threat of its ban in the US, the app remains extremely popularSo much so that even the White House has recognized its usefulness as an indispensable tool for political contacts.

According to Politico, TikTok and ByteDance spent over $16 million for federal lobbying from 2019, with the total expected to be significantly higher, especially in the current environment where the very existence of the app is at stake.

Source: Politico