From being a Facebook intern to leading its biggest rival: Who is TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew

Shou Zi Chew, the Singapore-born CEO of TikTok, today leads one of the biggest competitors to Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. But few know that at the start of his career, Chew actually worked for Zuckerberg. After earning an economics degree from University College London and later pursuing an MBA at Harvard Business School, Chew spent a summer internship at Facebook (now Meta), then an up-and-coming social media startup.After his brief stint in California, Chew moved through major financial and tech hubs including London, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In 2015, he joined Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi, playing a key role in the company’s public listing three years later as its chief financial officer. His work at Xiaomi positioned him as a rising executive in Asia’s fast-growing technology sector.Shou Zi Chew’s career took a sharp turn in 2021, when he joined ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. Initially appointed as CFO, he was later named CEO of TikTok the same year, while briefly holding both roles. Under his leadership, TikTok surged past 1 billion users globally, including an estimated 150 million in the United States, making it one of the few major platforms outside Zuckerberg’s reach.TikTok’s rise has long frustrated Meta. According to reports, Mark Zuckerberg tried to acquire Musical.ly in 2016, a lip-syncing app that later merged into TikTok after ByteDance bought it for $800 million. Meta’s own rival app, Lasso, failed to gain traction and was shut down in 2020.As TikTok’s influence grew in the US, so did the scrutiny in Washington over the app’s Chinese ties. Chew has appeared before US lawmakers to defend the platform from allegations of being a national security risk due to its Chinese ownership. During a 2023 hearing, he drew contrasts with Facebook’s own track record, saying: “American social companies don’t have a good track record with data privacy and user security.”Zuckerberg has also voiced concerns about TikTok’s control by a foreign government but has also warned that banning the app could set a precedent for restricting online platforms.