ByteDance-owned short video app TikTok is replacing several senior executives including the person running its trust and safety unit which handles content moderation, the Information reported on Tuesday, citing people at the company and a memo sent to staff.
Adam Presser, operations head of the app who reports to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, will now oversee trust and safety, according to the Information.
Last month, Chew testified before Congress alongside Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg and other tech and media heads in a hearing where lawmakers accused the companies of failing to protect children from escalating threats of sexual predation on their platforms.
Replying to questions from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, TikTok’s CEO had said that the company would spend more than $2 billion on trust and safety efforts.
Cormac Keenan, who had led global trust and safety, will now take on a strategic advisory role in the senior leadership team, a spokesperson at TikTok confirmed.
Meantime, TikTok has begun removing Universal Music Publishing Group content from the video app as it failed to reach a new licensing agreement with the music label, the social media firm said on Tuesday.
TikTok has also started to mute videos on its platform that feature songs written by any songwriter signed on to UMPG, after removing the songs from Universal Music Group, as the licensing deal expired on Jan. 31.
The company is likely to remove all the UMPG content before the end of February considering the legality of the matter, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. TikTok, however, has reached out to UMG and is still open to negotiate a new deal, the source added.
