On January 31, at a hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S. Senator Tom Cotton of the Senate Judiciary Committee threw a series of questions at TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, repeatedly asking whether he had Chinese citizenship and had ever joined the Communist Party of China, and so on. The acts of U.S. lawmakers at the hearing has become a topic of conversation among netizens around the globe.

According to a poll released by CGTN for global netizens, more than 90 percent of netizens who responded believe that the questions asked by some U.S. lawmakers exposed their ignorance, arrogance, and prejudice toward China, which will ultimately undermine the stable development of China-U.S. relations.

The survey found that 86.5 percent of global respondents thought Cotton's performance was extremely unprofessional. In the words of a CGTN netizen, "Low intelligence, obvious unprofessionalism, and a lack of fundamental teaching. The typical performance of American politicians is displayed for the entire world to see."

In March of last year, at a hearing of the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House, more than 50 congressmen asked Chew over 200 questions. They interrupted Chew to prevent him from giving detailed explanations.

According to the poll, 87.7 percent of the respondents believe that this seriously undermines the objectivity and impartiality of the U.S. legislature, and is an absolute "presumption of guilt." Another 85.3 percent of the respondents agreed that they did not experience what U.S. lawmakers called information security concerns when using TikTok.

So far, the U.S. government has not provided any evidence that TikTok is a threat to U.S. national security. Yet it has repeatedly suppressed certain companies and created panic around the China issue.

According to the survey, 76.6 percent of global respondents believe the move by the U.S. lacks legitimacy, seriously undermines fair international trade rules, and jeopardizes the free global market. 

Besides, 87.3 percent of respondents believe that the discriminatory questioning and sanctioning by U.S. politicians of technology companies in other countries seriously impedes the free flow of science and technology, and will ultimately backfire on U.S. technological development.

The poll was released on CGTN's English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian platforms, with over 17,000 people voting within 24 hours.

(Cover: U.S. Republican Senator from Arkansas Tom Cotton (R) speaks during the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing "Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis" in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 31, 2024. /CFP)