HONG KONG: TikTok Chief Executive Officer Kevin Mayer resigned on Thursday amid United States pressure for its Chinese owner to sell the popular video app, which the White House says is a security risk. Mayer, a former Disney executive, joined TikTok as CEO in May. ByteDance launched TikTok in 2017, then bought Musical.ly, a video service popular with teens in the US and Europe, and combined the two. TikTok gained immense popularity via its fun, goofy videos and ease of use, and has hundreds of millions of users globally. But its Chinese ownership has raised concerns about potential censorship of videos, including those critical of the Chinese government, and the risk Beijing may access user data.

Source: Manila Times August 27, 2020 05:26 UTC