In the wake of TikTok becoming unavailable in America on January 20, online spaces have been buzzing with discussion, debates and, of course, misinformation. Even as access for some in America has returned, the future of the company remains uncertain. One viral claim which has garnered a large number of views and reposts is that Tik Tok CEO Shou Zi Chew edited his TikTok profile to replace the description “CEO of TikTok” with just “TikTok.”
Posters and commenters are citing this as evidence that TikTok has been sold – or that Shou Zi Chew has been replaced. Others point to Youtuber Mr Beast as the potential new owner as his bio now reads “New Owner of TikTok?” This claim appears to have sparked confusion across TikTok, with many users taking it at face value and questioning the future of the app. We took a closer look at this claim to find out the facts.
Faulty Premise
Before even checking the evidence being cited, the premise of the claim itself is rather questionable. While Shou Zi Chew is CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of TikTok, he does not own the company.
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance Ltd. Is a privately owned company that was founded in China. TikTok has stated that 60% of ByteDance is owned by global institutional investors, 20% by its founders, and 20% by employees. Despite being CEO, Shou Zi Chew is not able to sell the company. In the same way that a change in CEO does not mean that ownership has changed, a change in ownership does not necessarily mean a change in CEO. Using Shou Zi Chew’s employment status as CEO is not an accurate or certain indicator of TikTok’s ownership status.
Profile Change?
However, a sudden change of his TikTok profile might perhaps be cause for further questions. We first looked to previous archived versions of TikTok to identify when (or if) this change occurred. According to screen grabs from 2023 that we accessed through the Wayback Machine’s internet archive, Shou Zi Chew’s TikTok page has not had a bio change at all – it has always simply read “TikTok.”Posts claiming that it used to read “CEO of TikTok” appear to be unfounded fabrications that have spread like wildfire. This has also seemingly been confirmed by Shou Zi Chew himself in a reply to a comment on his most recently posted video that asked if he was still CEO – answering “lol yes of course.”
As of the time of writing, while speculations about potential sales in light of the looming U.S ban are rife, there has been no change in TikTok ownership and Shou Zi Chew remains as its CEO. And, while Mr Beast has spoken about wanting to “join the bid” for TikTok, he has not taken any action as yet.
Therefore, given the illogical premise of the claims alongside the easily disprovable evidence presented, we give this claim a rating of False. Shou Zi Chew has not changed his TikTok bio to remove his CEO title – nor would any such change be proof of any change in TikTok ownership.
Based on our observations, this claim is continuing to circulate on TikTok despite some posters attempting to debunk it – reflecting the current landscape of confusion and uncertainty. Other wild claims such as Shou Zi Chew’s real Chinese name being “Tikfang Toksheng” have also been going viral – with a post about it gaining over 38 million views on X.
More broadly, this is a possible indicator of further swathes of misinformation to come as users attempt to understand the complex business and legal elements of TikTok’s operations and ownership. Given Singapore’s own position within this equation as the home of TikTok’s headquarters, it is likely to become part of future claims and speculation.
While it is not possible to eliminate misinformation, a heightened level of vigilance is important in order to stay informed and aware of the facts – particularly as new developments and new stories emerge by the day.