TikTok shakes up leadership amid questions about its future

TikTok, the popular short video app facing questions about its future in the United States, said Thursday that its chief operating officer would be leaving the company and that it had hired a new chief of operations and a new chief brand and communications officer.

V. Pappas, who joined TikTok in 2018 as chief operating officer to lead its North American operations, will become a strategic advisor to the company. Adam Presser, TikTok’s chief of staff, will become chief of operations.

In an email to the company on Thursday, Mx. Pappas, 44, said: “The time is right to move on and refocus on my entrepreneurial passions.”

The company also said Zenia Mucha will oversee the expanded communications team. Ms. Mucha, who for many years led a 500-person global media relations team at Disney, was described in a 2021 New York Times profile as “combative” and a “foundation of the leadership team” who had a voice in most major corporate issues. decisions at Disney.

“This is an important time for our business,” TikTok CEO Shou Chew said in an announcement Thursday, “and I am confident that we are in a strong position to match the opportunities that lie ahead.”

The leadership shake-up comes at a crucial time for TikTok, as the app is under immense pressure over ownership by Chinese company ByteDance and questions about its data and privacy practices. The governor of Montana recently signed a bill banning TikTok in the state starting next year, and the app has also been banned in universities, government agencies, and by the military. The Biden administration has also pushed for a potential sale of the app to address national security concerns.

The intense investigation into TikTok has thrown a spotlight on top executives, who have been asked to publicly defend the company and its practices to lawmakers. Mr Chew appeared before Congress in March for a heated hearing after Mx. Pappas was questioned by senators last September. The autumn performance of Mx. Pappas was one of the first times a TikTok leader had to publicly answer to lawmakers about his ties to Beijing.

mx. Pappas has also defended the app and become a face of the company among creators amid calls to ban TikTok under two separate presidential administrations.

Ms. Mucha isn’t the first Disney leader to join TikTok. Kevin Mayer was Disney’s top streaming executive before briefly joining TikTok as CEO in 2020.