Popularity of Tick Tok and new questions to CEO
2023.01.20 12:30
Popularity of Tick Tok and new questions to CEO
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Pappas took the stage for the industry keynote event when TikTok was the title sponsor of Vidcon, an annual convention for the creators and brands that make up a significant portion of the short-form video app’s audience and business.
Pappas was the TikTok executive in the hot seat when Congress grilled the company about privacy and security concerns months later.
However, despite the fact that Pappas has arguably served as TikTok’s public face for the majority of the company’s turbulent years, she has done so while serving as the company’s second-in-command. Shou Zi Chew, a longtime tech finance executive based in Singapore, thousands of miles away from Washington, has been in charge of one of the most widely used apps for nearly two years.
In Silicon Valley, tech CEOs frequently become well-known faces and the faces of their companies. Before Elon Musk bought Twitter, Jack Dorsey was the bearded face of the company. Mark Zuckerberg is synonymous with Facebook. However, Chew, who assumed leadership of TikTok in April 2021, has largely remained out of the spotlight at a time when the app he oversees cannot seem to avoid it.
TikTok has come under increasing scrutiny from state and federal lawmakers in the United States due to concerns about its ties to China through its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, as well as concerns that it could have a negative impact on younger users. Despite the fact that it was able to avert a threat of a ban in 2020, TikTok has not yet been banned.
While the Biden administration is still said to be negotiating with TikTok over a deal to allow it to continue operating in the United States, some lawmakers in the United States have renewed calls to completely ban the app. In the meantime, European Union officials have begun to speak more forcefully about TikTok.
Chew may feel more pressure as a result. He has already been required to respond to pointed letters from senators in the United States, and just this past week, he went to Brussels to meet with EU officials. At the same time, Chew, who previously held the position of CFO at ByteDance, is said to be restricted in terms of the power he exercises over TikTok and its parent company.
Chew was asked if he worked “at the behest of the folks at ByteDance and therefore at the behest of the Chinese government” in a rare interview at the New York Times DealBook summit at the end of November. He replied, “I am responsible for all of TikTok’s strategic decisions.”
However, he went on to say that ByteDance is “organized the way you would expect an internet company to be organized,” with global investors and a board that includes representatives of shareholders and employees. Chew reiterated, “but ultimately, I have to be responsible to the shareholders and to the board as well.” “I am responsible for the decisions at TikTok.”
Chew has stated in interviews that he is a 40-year-old father of two who enjoys playing golf and reading theoretical physics books. TikTok, on the other hand, seems to prefer to emphasize his nationality the most.
TikTok appeared to be attempting to distance itself from ByteDance in a June letter to US lawmakers, stating that it was led by “its own global CEO, Shou Zi Chew, a Singaporean based in Singapore.”
TikTok has a history of exaggerating the CEO’s nationality. TikTok repeatedly defended itself against critics in 2020, as it faced increasing pressure from the Trump administration, by touting its “American CEO,” Kevin Mayer, a former executive at Disney, one of the most storied US companies.
Before stepping down, Mayer only served as TikTok’s chief executive for three months. Pappas, an Australian with experience working at Google’s YouTube and other major US tech platforms, was appointed interim global head of TikTok for less than a year.
According to Ivan Kanapathy, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia on the White House’s National Security Council staff, “I think they brought him in specifically because, frankly, he’s not a Chinese national, and Singapore traditionally straddles the fence of these worlds.” Geopolitically, they’re quite good at it.”
“Ultimately, I don’t think it’s going to be enough for Washington,” Kanapathy added, referring to Chew’s Singaporean heritage, which provided lawmakers who were concerned about China’s influence over TikTok with some consolation. For the present, I don’t think it makes a big deal about a distinction on the grounds that by the day’s end, he actually replies to ByteDance, as there’s just such a lot of he can do.”
Chew went to college in London after completing his obligatory military service in Singapore. In 2010, he received his MBA from Harvard Business School. After interning one summer at a “startup” that “was called Facebook,” as he put it in an alumni spotlight, while he was at Harvard, he got a taste of Silicon Valley.
He went on to become the CFO of Xiaomi, a tech company in China that went public with his assistance in 2018.
He led a group that was one of ByteDance’s early investors in 2013. Chew stated in an interview with business magnate David Rubenstein that throughout his career, he kept in touch with the ByteDance team and that they eventually approached him to offer him the CFO position. In April 2021, he took over as CEO of TikTok, with Pappas serving as COO.
Chew told Rubenstein that as TikTok’s CEO, “I’m most focused on trust building.” Since we are a young company, I believe we must earn trust through our actions.
Chew does not use Twitter and has a verified private Instagram account that has no posts. He has uploaded a few videos to TikTok, most of which are short clips of him traveling and going to different TikTok offices. However, despite running one of the world’s most downloaded apps, Chew largely keeps his personal life private.
It may provide a welcome respite from certain US technology executives who can’t seem to stop tweeting every thought.
Matthew Quint, director of the center on global brand leadership at Columbia Business School, suggests that it could also be due to the cultural differences that come with leading a large tech company with a Chinese parent company.
Despite the fact that Chew is not a citizen of China, Quint pointed out that Chinese tech companies and leaders who have attracted too much attention to themselves have been subjected to severe government repression.
It’s possible that TikTok’s future in the United States will not be significantly affected by Chew’s decision to become a more well-known figure and attempt a charm offensive. In the end, Quint stated, “I don’t think the CEO of TikTok has much relevance at all” for US lawmakers who are examining the company’s connections to China.
Quint stated, “Over the course of the last 18 months or so, we’ve seen a rotating group, many of whom are not born-Chinese nationals, and that has not swayed the pressure around TikTok from a regulatory and national security perspective.”
