Tom Cotton Repeatedly Asks Singaporean TikTok CEO if He's Ever Associated With Chinese Communist Party

There was a big Senate hearing on Wednesday revolving around social media. The Senate Judiciary Committee summoned the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, Discord, Snap, and X to question them about the risks social media poses to children in America. It meant plenty of time in the spotlight for people like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, which also meant that the line of questioning sometimes went awry as attempts to go viral were made.

Tom Cotton had one of those moments while speaking to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Cotton, apparently attempting to draw a through line from TikTok to communism, repeatedly asked Chew if he has ever associated with the Chinese Communist Party. The CEO replied by saying he was from Singapore, not China, so no, he has not. This didn't sink in with Cotton who then asked the same variation of the question again, leading to a frustrated repeated response from Chew.

And that's just the end of the clip. The beginning kicks off with Cotton asking Chew about his citizenship and where he lives. Chew said that he is from Singapore, lives in Singapore, only has a Singaporean passport, and served in the Singaporean military, which only a person from Singapore could do. For whatever reason that just did not click with Cotton and he plowed ahead with his line of questioning undeterred, leading to this clip where it seems like he is just ignoring whatever Chew is saying in order to get his question about the Chinese Communist Party on the record. It feels like something out of Succession.

The lines between television and reality continue to blur.