TikTok’s Chief Operating Officer to Step Down After Nearly 5 Years

TikTok logo on an iPhone in London on Feb. 28, 2023. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

TikTok’s Chief Operating Officer, V. Pappas, is leaving the social media platform amid an organizational shakeup at the company.

Pappas, one of the company’s most public faces, said in a note sent to employees Thursday morning and later shared on Twitter that she felt it was the right time to move on and focus on “entrepreneurial passions.”

Separately, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a note sent to TikTok employees that Pappas would continue to serve as a strategic adviser.

Chew also announced other organizational changes at the company. Zenia Mucha, who served nearly two decades as a communications executive at Disney, will join TikTok as the chief brand and communications officer to oversee TikTok’s marketing and public relations arm.

Meanwhile, TikTok’s chief of staff, Adam Presser, will become the head of operations, Chew said.

Pappas, a former YouTube official, joined TikTok in 2018 as its general manager. In 2020, she was promoted to interim head.

(L-R) YouTube Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan, TikTok Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Pappas, and General Manager of Bluebird of Twitter Jay Sullivan testify during a hearing before Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in Washington on Sep. 14, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Pappas assumed the COO role in 2021. She has since testified on Capitol Hill and appeared in media interviews to defend TikTok, which has been scrutinized by lawmakers who expressed concerns about its links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

TikTok has for years faced allegations that its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, would share user data from its popular video-sharing app with the CCP or push propaganda and misinformation on its behalf.

The company is currently negotiating its data privacy plans with the Biden administration.

Earlier this year, the administration threatened to ban the company nationwide if its Chinese owners didn’t sell their stakes.

TikTok maintains that it’s never been asked by the CCP to share U.S. user data, and it wouldn’t do so if asked.

The FBI and Federal Communications Commission had warned in 2022 of possible threats TikTok poses to U.S. national security, including that user data obtained by the app—such as browsing history and location—could be shared with the authoritarian Chinese regime.

Concerns were heightened in late 2022 amid media reports that staff at ByteDance used the company’s access to TikTok user data to improperly track U.S. journalists.

Peter Hish, a sergeant with the Los Angeles County’s Sheriff Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau, recently told The Epoch Times that the content hidden in TikTok’s terms of use and privacy policy is very concerning, that users who install the app voluntarily reveal everything about themselves and the information of those around them.

TikTok’s privacy policy says, “TikTok may transmit your data to its servers or data centers outside of the United States for storage and/or processing.”

“Another thing about TikTok, who controls TikTok? The Chinese Communist Party controls TikTok. So where’s all your data going? The CCP. You want the CCP having knowing everything that you do? I don’t,” Hish told The Epoch Times.

The Associated Press, Linda Jiang, and Angela Bright contributed to this report.