TikTok’s US trust and safety head quits as pressure to ban the app mounts
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TikTok is facing a national security review in connection with its ownership by ByteDance.
PHOTO: AFP
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LOS ANGELES – One of TikTok’s most senior officials in charge of ensuring user safety is leaving the company amid increasing pressure on the United States government to ban the popular video-sharing app.
Mr Eric Han, who has led TikTok’s US trust and safety operations for years, will depart this month, a person briefed on the matter said.
Mr Han has been one of the most prominent officials in TikTok’s all-out effort to convince sceptical lawmakers and policymakers that the app is safe for US users and that it should not be banned.
TikTok is facing a national security review in connection with its ownership by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, and multiple Bills in Congress that could limit access to the app.
In December, TikTok combined its global trust and safety team with its US-based trust and safety group, which Mr Han had led from Los Angeles. He was promoted to the role of head of trust and safety for the newly walled-off US data operations.
Former employees who worked closely with Mr Han said he was frustrated when he was not offered the role of leading the combined team, and instead given a promotion he did not want.
This US data security team was created specifically to appease the country’s national security concerns.
While Mr Han’s role was prestigious on paper, he eventually compared it with being given a “poison chalice” – a job that sounds good at first, but that would leave him susceptible to being a scapegoat.
In March, TikTok chief executive Chew Shou Zi appeared before Congress in what became a contentious event,
A TikTok representative declined to comment, and Mr Han did not respond to a LinkedIn message. American technology news website The Verge previously reported on Mr Han’s intent to exit.
The company has struggled to hire seasoned, public-facing executives willing to be the front-people between anti-China politicians and TikTok, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. BLOOMBERG
