TikTok announced on Tuesday that Eric Han, it’s head of US trust and safety, will leave the firm on May 12.
TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech firm ByteDance, has already been banned on government-issued phones in countries such as Canada and Australia due to concerns about the Chinese government’s ability to access user data or influence what people view the popular app. Some US lawmakers have also called for a nationwide ban on the app.
TikTok has previously stated that it has never disclosed data to the Chinese government and will not do so if asked.
Han, who has been at TikTok since 2019, led initiatives such as enhancing content moderation and minimising election misinformation, and his resignation comes at a time when the short video app is seeking to avoid a US ban.
He was in charge of trust and safety for the company’s U.S. Data Security, a division designed to store U.S. data in the country on Oracle-controlled servers in order to alleviate security concerns.