JAKARTA — TikTok announced on Tuesday that its U.S. trust and safety chief, Eric Han, will leave the company on May 12, leaving the popular short-form video app without a key executive as it battles threats from ban in the United States.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, is banned on government-issued phones in countries like Canada and Australia because the Chinese government can access user data or influence what people see on it. popular app. He also faced calls from several US lawmakers to ban the app nationwide.
TikTok has long said that it never shares data with the Chinese government and would not if asked.
Han, who has worked at TikTok since 2019, oversees efforts such as increasing content moderation and reducing election misinformation. He leads trust and security for the US Data Security Company (USDS), a division created to store US data in the country on servers controlled by Oracle, in an effort to address security issues.
His impending departure also comes as TikTok prepares to hold a presentation for advertisers in New York on Thursday.
The Verge first broke the news of Han’s impending departure.
“Travel nerd. Social media evangelist. Zombie junkie. Total creator. Avid webaholic. Friend of animals everywhere. Future teen idol.”