NewsOutside the Disney Bubble

Former Disney Adviser Helped TikTok CEO in Recent Congressional Hearing

The Walt Disney Company has been known to make some brilliant maneuvers to get itself out of sticky situations, the most recent and ingenious example being the Reedy Creek loophole that is currently making headlines. It must therefore come as no surprise that Disney has some of the best and brightest minds in the country working for it, be that in the business and legal side of things or on the creative side with Walt Disney Imagineering. However, it turns out that a former Disney senior executive—the former longtime communications chief—has been more relevant to recent headlines than we previously realized.

Here’s the news.

magic kingdom wait times
Cinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom Park, Walt Disney World Resort / Credit: Disney

As the Wall Street Journal reported, TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew was helped for more than a month by former advisers of Barack Obama and the Walt Disney Company. Specifically, former longtime communications chief of the Walt Disney Company, Zenia Mucha, “are advising TikTok in its fight against efforts to ban it in the U.S.”

All three of these advisers helped coach TikTok CEO Shou Chew in preparation for his hearing that, as many will know, turned out to be one of the most contentious hearings the House had seen.

Zenia Mucha, Jim Messina and David Plouffe helped coach TikTok’s chief Shou Zi Chew for more than a month ahead of a House hearing
Zenia Mucha, Jim Messina, and David Plouffe helped coach TikTok’s chief Shou Zi Chew for more than a month ahead of the recent House hearing / Courtesy of Wall Street Journal.

As some Disney Fanatics would know, Ms. Mucha had experience in both the political and corporate spheres, having advised Republican politicians in New York for many years prior to her 20-year-long career at the Walt Disney Company. During her time with Disney, she worked with Mr. Iger as his longtime lieutenant, advising him on matters ranging from “geopolitical matters to fan relations.” She was also very present for a lot of Disney’s expansion in China.

The focus of the hearing was the U.S. worrying that data was not safe in the hands of TikTok due to the possibility that the company “would share data on U.S. users with the Chinese government, or influence the content users see, based on the whims of the Chinese government. ”

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at the recent Congressional hearing/Courtesy of The Straits Times

As Mr Chew mentioned in the hearing and reported by WSJ, “TikTok has said it has never received such a request, and wouldn’t participate if asked, and that its platform allows free expression. It also has said it has spent about $1.5 billion to put a plan in place to separate U.S. users’ data, housing it with its American partner Oracle Corp.”

Priyanka Kumar

Priyanka is a writer, artist, avid reader, and travel enthusiast based in Chicago. In her free time, she is probably walking by the lake, catching up on the latest releases on TV, or spending inordinate amounts of time rewatching Moana, Encanto, and her Disney Channel life-long favorites Zack and Cody wreak havoc on the Tipton.

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