Apple, Tik Tok Decline Invitations to Hawley Tough-Talk Tech Hearing

Tom Burt, with tech giant Microsoft, has agreed to testify at Tuesday's (Nov. 5) afternoon hearing on “How Corporations and Big Tech Leave Our Data Exposed to Criminals, China, and Other Bad Actors.”

Not so execs from Apple and Tik Tok, who declined their invitations to testify. According to Hawley's office, though there will be empty chairs at the table for them, a photo-op tactic that has been used before in hearings where tech types failed to show up.

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That is according to the office of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, which said the invitations remain open.

In addition to Burt, who is corporate VP of customer security and trust, also scheduled to weigh in from the witness table are Kara Frederick, fellow for technology and national security program, Center for a New American Security; William Carter, deputy director and fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Klon Kitchen, senior research fellow, technology, at the Heritage Foundation.

Hawley: Big Tech is Exploiting Digital Tread Mill

Hawley, a freshman, has made reining in Big Tech his signature issue, including teaming up with some veterans on both sides of the aisle on legislation toward that end.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.