Comment on this storyComment
TikTok’s chief operating officer, V Pappas, resigned on Thursday after five years of helping transform a once-obscure short video service into one of the world’s most popular apps, signaling a potentially broader restructuring for the Chinese tech giant than it faces a struggle for survival in Washington.
Pappas was TikTok’s highest-ranking manager in the US and interim boss before Shou Zi Chew, TikTok’s current boss, was hired. Chew, who is based in Singapore, said in an email to employees obtained by The Washington Post Thursday that Pappas had resigned “to refocus on her entrepreneurial passions.”
Chew told employees Thursday that the senior-level changes were aimed at “evolving” the company’s organizational structure, including promoting TikTok chief of staff Adam Presser to operations manager and hiring a Disney veteran, Zenia Mucha, to head the brand Corporate and Communications Officer.
“This is a big moment for TikTok,” said Reuven Ashtar, chief executive of creator management firm Never Napping. “It’s a shift that gets to the heart of whether TikTok will remain a creator hub and how it might engage Hollywood and the media.”
The move was also met with concern from TikTok employees. Two of them told The Post that recent restructuring has contributed to doubts and disorganization within the company. Eric Han, the US chief of trust and safety, left the company last month.
Pappas was once the face of the company on Capitol Hill, including during a heated Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing in September where members of Congress questioned the executive about the Chinese roots of TikTok parent company ByteDance.
Pappas also forged strong relationships with the video makers and influencers that have become the lifeblood of modern social media. Pappas was part of a founding team at YouTube that Pappas left in 2018, who coined the term “creator” in its modern usage.
The TikTok CEO’s mission: fending off a ban. It can be a “death wish”.
Pappas, who previously used the name Vanessa, came out as non-binary in February and prefers the pronouns they/them.
Pappas led TikTok through a difficult time after Kevin Mayer left his post as CEO after just a few months in 2020, citing his frustration with the political standoff between TikTok and the Trump administration.
While Chew was reserved when it came to public appearances, Pappas was known for a more outspoken approach. In March, Pappas told attendees at a Los Angeles summit that some US lawmakers’ suspicions about TikTok’s association with China were based on “xenophobia.”
In a note to employees Thursday, Pappas said they would take on an advisory role at the company, but made no further reference to future work.
“I went with a company and product that was completely unknown at the time and followed my intuition,” Pappas wrote. “Five years later, we have grown into a global team of thousands. … I finally feel like it’s time to move on.”
TikTok is suing Montana, citing the First Amendment to block a ban
TikTok says it has more than 1 billion monthly active users, with more than 100 million in the US. But the company faces an existential threat from U.S. lawmakers and government officials, who have expressed interest in heavy regulation or a ban on the company for fear of Chinese government involvement.
It’s unclear how Pappas’ move will affect the company’s ongoing negotiations with the United States Committee on Foreign Investments, the federal agency that reviews company deals for national security concerns.
The change in leadership also comes as TikTok struggles to secure its dominance in the online market for fast, colorful video, including competition from new entrants from American tech giants Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
“There’s obviously a race to be the platform that monetizes short content enough for creators to care,” said Jordan Matter, a family content creator in Los Angeles with more than 5 million TikTok followers. “YouTube is the closest we’ve come to that. For TikTok to maintain its position as the short-form titan, they need to find a way to monetize their content more.”
This is an evolving story. Please check again for updates.