TikTok Announces Security Officer Change
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Following pressure from U.S. lawmakers to increase security, TikTok announced a new Global Chief Security Officer, although the company denies a connection between data concerns and the decision. The company statement is unusual in that it’s written by the outgoing officer, Roland Cloutier. It’s not until the penultimate paragraph of the statement, in a section labeled, “A Message from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and ByteDance VP of Technology Dingkun Hong,” that Kim Albarella is announced as the interim head.
Cloutier will stay on in a “strategic advisory role,” and Albarella’s position is interim, but still, similar leader change announcements tend to have the main voice as the CEO or board chair with quotes from outgoing leaders. This approach could reflect TikTok’s organizational structure—being owned by ByteDance, a Chinese multinational company, which is causing particular alarm about data security.
The announcement is a public post from an internal message to employees, in which case, having Cloutier author the statement may make sense. Still, we read very little about Albarella, and I wonder why that is. Overall, the message focuses much more on past accomplishments than future plans, and Cloutier writes nothing about her at all.
