TikTok’s response to lawmakers asserting that the CCP could use the app for everything from espionage to election-influence operations is to launch a PR offensive on Washington. In addition to the more than $10 million the company has dropped on lobbyists over the past two years, this week it also tapped the Los Angeles-based Hotline Agency, “a Black and queer-owned boutique creative communications agency,” to help retell its story. Hence, the company spending lavishly this week to ensure its best assets—its diverse group of creators—get private face time with Washington power brokers before members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee accuse Chew of being an operative for Chinese communists.

At TikTok’s press conference yesterday, the enthusiasm emanating from the crowd of more than 140 people was tangible; influencer stories were deeply personal. After a brutal month for the beleaguered tech firm, all the cheering and sign-waving for Yu and other speakers, including three sympathetic Democratic lawmakers, made it seem like TikTok had finally turned the tide and gotten organic momentum on its side. That tone soon clashed with the TikTok signs held by members of the crowd that had a glossy (but not too glossy) sheen indicative of a high-priced PR firm.

Much as the app’s users are addicted to its unparalleled For You feature, TikTok’s team carefully manicured this press conference to appeal to journalists’ most basic instincts. A taco influencer, with a cake served up for dessert; a nurse; a “patriot”; artists; musicians; and a model. The press corps, which made up roughly half the crowd, couldn’t look away. 

The tech company isn’t just throwing money at its image problems. It also announced new safety features ahead of today’s hearing, including acquiescing to pressure to drastically limit the time children are allowed to spend on the app daily, from unlimited to 60 minutes. 

TikTok also enjoyed the vocal support of some lawmakers. Advocates for the app say the company poses no more of a threat to America’s children than, say, Facebook did when it allegedly buried research showing Instagram was a health risk to children, according to one whistleblower.

“My question is, why the hysteria and the panic and the targeting of TikTok?” Congressman Jamaal Bowman asked yesterday’s crowd. “As we know, Republicans, in particular, have been sounding the alarm creating a red scare around China.”

But it’s not just Republicans calling for a TikTok crackdown. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has spoken out against the app, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries appointed Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois—one of TikTok’s loudest foes in the Capitol—as the top Democrat on Republicans’ new, high-profile select committee on China. Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, recently introduced bipartisan legislation that could lead to a full TikTok ban in the US. 

While the anti-TikTok furor marks one of the most bipartisan policy areas in today’s divided capital, Congressman Bowman says the rush to punish TikTok is distracting lawmakers from the serious privacy concerns he has with Silicon Valley’s finest. “It poses about the same threat that companies like Facebook and Instagram and YouTube and Twitter pose, so let’s not marginalize and target TikTok,” Bowman told the crowd. “Let’s have a comprehensive conversation about legislation that we need—federal legislation—to make sure people who use social media platforms are safe and their information is secure and their information is not being shared or sold to third parties.”