TikTok‘s leadership team is stepping up to ensure that the company makes progress in its trust and safety division. A reorganization will install Head of Operations Adam Presser as the overseer of the unit that has received scrutiny from regulators in the U.S. and abroad.
As reported by The Information, TikTok’s executive shuffle will give it more control over its trust and safety operations. Previously, that department was led by Erich Andersen, the general counsel for TikTok parent ByteDance. Presser, who took over as the leader of TikTok ops after the departure of former COO V Pappas, reports to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew rather than ByteDance CEO Rubo Liang.
After Presser’s promotion from Chief of Staff to Head of Operations, he instituted changes in his department. A reorg announced last year looked to make TikTok’s ops more efficient as the app seeks partnerships with creators, brands, and publishers. “Our current structure has not allowed our teams to reach our full potential,” Presser wrote at the time.
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Now that Presser has been given the reins to the trust and safety team, several other TikTok execs are on their way out. According to The Information, departures will include previous trust and safety head Cormac Keenan, who was based out of TikTok’s Dublin office. Keenan will move into a non-executive advisory position.
Other execs stepping down include Rich Waterworth and Theo Bertram. Waterworth was TikTok’s GM of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, while Bertram was VP of Government Relations and Public Policy for Europe.
Putting trust and safety into an American exec’s hands will help TikTok address its critics in the U.S. government. Chew has made several appearances before Congress, but he has struggled to convince regulators that TikTok’s U.S. user data is in secure hands. Presser is now equipped to take up that fight — and he won’t have respond to any ridiculous questions about the Chinese citizenship he doesn’t have.
