TikTok’s Global Security Chief to Step Down, Reveals Internal Memo

TikTok’s world chief safety officer Roland Cloutier, who oversees cybersecurity, is stepping down from his function however will keep on the firm, in line with an inner memo seen by Reuters.

“With our recent announcement about data management changes in the US, it’s time for me to transition from my role as Global Chief Security Officer into a strategic advisory role focusing on the business impact of security and trust programs, working directly with (CEO) Shou, ByteDance (VP of Technology) Dingkun and other senior leaders,” Cloutier wrote within the memo.

TikTok, the video-sharing app owned by China’s ByteDance, employed Cloutier from payroll processing firm Automated Data Processing (ADP) in 2020, amid rising scrutiny from the US regulators on the corporate’s dealing with of private knowledge.

Kim Albarella, a senior member at TikTok’s safety group, will function interim head of Global Security. Albarella beforehand labored for ADP for greater than a decade.

Meanwhile, the corporate proceed to be beneath scrutiny by the EU and the US regulators. A couple of days again, Italy’s knowledge safety authority has formally warned TikTok about an alleged breach of present European Union guidelines to safeguard person privateness.

TikTok had instructed customers in current weeks that it was going to ship focused promoting to them from July 13, with out requesting consent for utilizing knowledge saved of their gadgets, the Italian watchdog stated.

On the opposite hand, the US Senate Intelligence Committee chair and high Republican have referred to as on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to research social media app TikTok and Chinese dad or mum ByteDance because of “repeated misrepresentations” over its dealing with of US knowledge.

The request on from Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, and Republican Marco Rubio adopted a Buzzfeed report saying the quick video app permitted TikTok engineers and executives in China to repeatedly entry non-public knowledge of US customers. The senators stated such entry raised questions over TikTok’s claims to lawmakers and customers that the info was protected.

© Thomson Reuters 2022