As TikTok prepares for U.S. deal, it says goodbye to its first Global Head of Creators

As TikTok prepares to sell off certain elements of its U.S. business, it is undergoing several internal reorganizations. One of those shuffles will result in the departure of Kim Farrell, who was the app’s first-ever Global Head of Creators.

On January 22, TikTok and the U.S. are expected to end a years-long dispute by enacting an agreement that will bring certain parts of TikTok’s business — including its recommendation algorithm for U.S. users — under the control of a consortium backed by the U.S. government. The deal has benefits for both U.S. (which gets the TikTok oversight it has long sought) and ByteDance (which gets a $14 billion payday for a small portion of its business), but it requires TikTok to spin off some teams that previously operated under the ByteDance umbrella.

That requirement explains one part of TikTok’s multifaceted reorganization. Some of the app’s U.S.-based employees were recently told that they will be working for TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, as the newly divested U.S. app is known. Workers in roles like data protection and algorithmic security will transfer to the new unit. As TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew explained in December, divisions like “e-commerce, advertising, and marketing” will remain attached to the broader version of the app.

The split nature of U.S. TikTok helps us answer a key question about the app. Since the deal was announced, we’ve been itching to know how connected

U.S. TikTok will be to the rest of the world. For divisions like TikTok Shop, there might not be significant changes at all, even if U.S. users get a new recommendation algorithm.

Changes are also coming to TikTok’s creator team. According to Status, a merger between the app’s creator and publishing units will result in the layoffs of 20 U.S.-based staffers, with some other roles also being eliminated. “We are realigning our global content operations team as we continue to accelerate the growth of high-quality content and key content verticals,” a TikTok spokesperson told Business Insider.

Farrell is arguably the most notable TikTok employee who will move on as part of the restructuring effort. She ascended to her current position in 2023 as part of a previous reorg that organized TikTok’s operations into multiple “pillars.” As the head of the creator pillar, Farrell led the development of marketing and educational services for the platform’s community.

2025 was a year of large-scale executive departures at TikTok. Music head Ole Obermann and North American ad sales chief Sameer Singh are two notables who left their posts amid regulatory pressure in the U.S. and beyond. In 2026, TikTok’s leadership team will look quite different, but the changes to the U.S. version of the app might not be as sweeping as first rumored.