TikTok’s CEO quits the company just months after the appointment

TikTok CEO left the comapny

Kevin Mayer TikTok’s CEO quits the job after facing a lot of backlash from US President Donald Trump. Kevin appointed as TikTok’s CEO in June this year. He left his job at Disney before joining TikTok. Along with the post of CEO responsibilities, Kevin became a chief operating officer of Tiktok’s parent company ByteDance.

Background

Trump’s administration is threatening the Tiktok app to change its parent company for quite a time. They threatened the company to shift the operating company, or they will ban the app in the US According to Trump’s administration, the app ties with China is a threat to US national security. The app collects data that can be a threat to their country’s security.

In an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Aug. 6, the US alleged China might potentially have access to “Americans’ personal and proprietary information” due to the data collected by TikTok.

Also, Read: Facebook launches its TikTok copycat on Instagram.

The company negates the allegations from the Trump administration. The Tiktok owners said that the data of the country stored in that country and backup is in Singapore. So, the data centres are outside China, and there is no threat to US national security.

Even before Trump issued executive orders calling for TikTok’s ban, the company was rethinking its corporate structure. The Wall Street Journal reported in early July that ByteDance was considering establishing a headquarters for the video app outside of China or a new management board to distance the service from the country.

Kevin Mayer quits due to the political environment, along with other reasons. The continuous pressure and allegations from the Trump administration played a significant role in this matter.

Mayer’s Letter Highlights

Colleagues,

I decided to join this company this spring because ByteDance is utterly unique, and it offered the opportunity to play a leadership role in a company that is changing the global internet landscape. Since joining, I have been incredibly impressed with the team and the company.

In recent weeks, as the political environment has sharply changed, I have done significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require, and what it means for the global role I signed up.

Against this backdrop, and as we expect to resolve very soon, it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company.

I want to be clear that this decision has nothing to do with the company, what I see for our future or the belief I have in what we are building. Yiming understands my decision, and I thank him for his support on this.

Interim Head

The great news is that the TikTok team will be in the incredibly capable hands of Vanessa, who will serve as interim head for TikTok globally.

She has fearlessly led operations in the US and won the trust of our employees, creators, users, and partners. I am incredibly grateful for the time that I was able to work with her and wish her success.

In my short time here, I have been amazed at the passion and dedication of our teams, particularly given the political criticism that we have faced. Like all companies in our space, we face challenges.

Still, I have tremendous confidence that we have a world-class security team in place working to make people on our platform safe and a fantastic global team that makes this such a unique, creative, and inclusive platform.

In the end, he thanks all the members and co-workers.