TikTok’s Global Security Chief Roland Cloutier to Step Down, Reveals Internal Memo

TikTok’s global chief security officer Roland Cloutier, who oversees cybersecurity, is stepping down from his role but will stay at the company, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

“With our recent announcement about data management changes in the US, it’s time for me to transition from my role as Global Chief Security Officer into a strategic advisory role focusing on the business impact of security and trust programs, working directly with (CEO) Shou, ByteDance (VP of Technology) Dingkun and other senior leaders,” Cloutier wrote in the memo.

TikTok, the video-sharing app owned by China’s ByteDance, hired Cloutier from payroll processing company Automated Data Processing (ADP) in 2020, amid increasing scrutiny from the US regulators on the company’s handling of personal data.

Kim Albarella, a senior member at TikTok’s security team, will serve as interim head of Global Security. Albarella previously worked for ADP for more than a decade.

Meanwhile, the company continue to be under scrutiny by the EU and the US regulators. A few days back, Italy’s data protection authority has formally warned TikTok about an alleged breach of existing European Union rules to safeguard user privacy.

TikTok had told users in recent weeks that it was going to deliver targeted advertising to them from July 13, without requesting consent for using data stored in their devices, the Italian watchdog said.

On the other hand, the US Senate Intelligence Committee chair and top Republican have called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate social media app TikTok and Chinese parent ByteDance due to “repeated misrepresentations” over its handling of US data.

The request on from Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, and Republican Marco Rubio followed a Buzzfeed report saying the short video app permitted TikTok engineers and executives in China to repeatedly access private data of US users. The senators said such access raised questions over TikTok’s claims to lawmakers and users that the data was protected.

© Thomson Reuters 2022