TikTok CEO Alex Zhu canceled planned meetings with several U.S. lawmakers in recent days, though a company statement indicated the meetings would be rescheduled.

U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., both of whom have pressed TikTok for answers about its business, tweeted about the canceled meetings on Dec. 9. In a statement provided to several media outlets, a TikTok spokesperson said meetings with lawmakers were postponed until after the December holidays "to ensure these conversations are as productive as possible."

Owned by China's Beijing Byte Dance Telecommunications Co. Ltd., the social media app TikTok is facing scrutiny from a number of U.S. lawmakers over security and privacy. ByteDance acquired lip-synching app musical.ly Inc. in 2017 and merged it with ByteDance's TikTok platform in 2018. Both platforms allowed users to create and share short singing videos. The deal is reportedly under new review by U.S. officials.