TikTok’s COO Vanessa Pappas steps down

TikTok’s chief operating officer Vanessa Pappas is to leave the global social media company after five years.

The UK trade Reuters reported in an internal email sent to staff, Pappas who use they/them pronouns revealed they will be stepping down as COO and will be taking on an advisory role to assist in the transition.

In the email they said, “Given all the successes reached at TikTok, I finally feel the time is right to move on and refocus on my entrepreneurial passions.”

Pappas first joined TikTok in 2018 as general manager for North America, Australia and New Zealand, following TikTok’s merger with Musical.ly. They were later promoted to global interim bead in 2020 before being named as COO.

Before joining TikTok, Pappas spent more than seven years at YouTube where they led company-wide strategic growth initiatives at the intersection of content and product. They also behind the YouTube Creator Playbook, a definitive guide to audience development at YouTube.

They departure comes following the appointment of Disney’s 20-year veteran exec Zenia Mucha, as chief brand and communications officer at TikTok. The news was announced by Shou Chew, chief executive of TikTok on Thursday in a memo to company’s employees.

In May Montana has become the first US state to attempt to ban video sharing app on personal devices, following bans on downloading the app on the phones of government officials in around 30 US states as well as by the US Federal government.

Pappas who confirmed the news of they departure on Twitter went on to add “After nearly 5 years at TikTok I am stepping down as COO. To our amazing community of creators, employees, & people who have made TikTok ‘the last sunny spot on the internet’, it has been an absolute privilege to serve you all & to be a part of this once in a lifetime journey.”