Pappas, who left YouTube in 2018 to join the then-fledgling video app, has had a long history working with video makers and influencers, serving on a formative YouTube team that coined the term “creator” in its modern usage.
Pappas led the company through a rocky period after Kevin Mayer left as chief executive after a only few months in 2020, citing his frustrations over political acrimony between TikTok and the Trump administration.
“This is a big moment for TikTok,” said Reuven Ashtar, chief executive of the creator management company Never Napping. “It signifies a shift that will get to the core of whether TikTok remains a creator hub and how it might move to embrace Hollywood and media.”
Pappas had also served as the face of the company in Washington, including during a fiery Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing in September, when members of Congress grilled Pappas over TikTok and its parent company ByteDance’s Chinese roots.
Where Chew was reserved in public appearances, Pappas was known for a more candid approach. In March, Pappas told attendees at a Los Angeles summit that some of U.S. lawmakers’ suspicion of TikTok’s Chinese connection was “predicated on some xenophobia.”
Chew told employees Thursday that the move was part of a broader move to “evolve” the company’s organizational structure, which included the promotion of TikTok chief of staff Adam Presser to head of operations and the hiring of a Disney veteran Zenia Mucha to become the company’s chief brand and communications officer.
TikTok is facing an existential threat from U.S. lawmakers and government officials, who have expressed interest in heavily regulating or banning the company due to speculative fears of Chinese-government involvement.
But the executive change also comes as TikTok fights to ensure its dominance of the online market for quick, colorful videos, including competition from new entrants from American tech giants Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
“There’s obviously a race to be the platform that’s monetizing short-form content enough for creators to care,” Jordan Matter, a family content creator in Los Angeles with more than 5 million TikTok followers. “YouTube so far is the closest to that, so for TikTok to maintain their position as the titan of short form, they’re going to have to find a way to monetize the content more significantly.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
