TikTok Chief Executive Officer Kevin Mayer has resigned from the company only four months after joining from Disneyland.
His resignation follows a lawsuit filed yesterday against President Donald Trump’s executive order threatening to ban the use of the app in the United States.
According to an internal Memo sent to the media, the CEO speaking of his abrupt quitting noted that “the uncertain political environment’ in the country was the reason for his decision.
Three weeks ago, President Trump said that it was considering a complete ban of the video-sharing platform because it was a threat to the country’s national security.
“In recent weeks, as the political environment has sharply changed, I have done significant
reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require, and what it means for the global role I signed up for,”
“Against this backdrop, and as we expect to reach a resolution very soon, it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company.” Mayer said in the Memo.
Chinese company ByteDance owns the app which has more than 500 million users worldwide.
National security experts are afraid that the Chinese state is using the app to mine users’ data, sparking countrywide fears.
On August 6, President Trump in leading an attack on Chinese tech products signed an executive order asking the company to sell U.S operations to an American company.
While suing the Trump administration, TikTok noted: “We do not take suing the government lightly…But with the Executive Order threatening to bring a ban on our U.S. operations we simply have no choice.’
Mayer holds an MBA from Harvard University and previously worked at Disney for more than 10 years.
