After being on the job for just 90 days, TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer said he will quit as the popular short video sharing company gets closer to a showdown with the White House over its alleged ties to the Chinese government.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Mayer told staff that the political atmosphere has shifted in the last month and the expected sale of TikTok’s U.S. operation will likely change the operation.
“I understand that the role that I signed up for including running TikTok globally will look very different as a result of the U.S. administration’s action to push for a selloff of the U.S. business,” Mayer wrote in a letter obtained by the WSJ. “I’ve always been globally focused in my work, and leading a global team that includes TikTok U.S. was a big draw for me.”
Before joining TikTok, Mayer served as a senior Walt Disney Co. executive.
Vanessa Pappas, the social media company’s U.S. general manager, is expected to serve as interim head of TikTok, Mayer wrote.
For weeks, ByteDance Ltd, the Chinese global internet technology company based in Beijing and parent of TikTok, has been at the center of a firestorm. On Aug. 6, President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning transactions with TikTok if it isn’t sold to a U.S. buyer within 45 days, alleging the company could be taking personal information from TikTok users and passing it on to the Chinese government.
ByteDance has denied the allegations.
Since then, TikTok has been in talks with Microsoft Corp. and Oracle for a potential purchase.
On Monday, (Aug. 24) ByteDance filed a lawsuit to fight President Trump’s move to ban its video-sharing application.
ByteDance argues TikTok poses no security risk.
A TikTok blog post said the company had made a “nearly year-long effort…in good faith to provide the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States the voluminous information requested.”
The blog added that Trump’s Aug. 6 executive order “has the potential to strip the rights” of millions of Americans to keep using the app while potentially costing U.S. employees their jobs. In addition, the company said, Trump’s threat was made “without any evidence to justify such an extreme action, and without any due process.”
In addition, Trump issued an Aug. 14 order that gives ByteDance 90 days to divest its TikTok U.S. operations.
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