TikTok’s global security chief is stepping down amid US user data controversy

Global Chief Security Officer (CSO) will step down from this position and move to a strategic advisory role. The change in Roland Cloutier’s responsibilities follows concerns about the company’s handling of US user data. TikTok said employees outside the country could access this information, despite requiring “robust cybersecurity controls and authorization” from its US security team.

Cloutier will be an advisor on the business impact of TikTok’s security and trust programs. Kim Albarella, Head of Security Risk, Vendor and Client Assurance at TikTok, will lead the company’s global security teams on an interim basis.

“Part of our evolving approach was to mitigate concerns about the security of US user data, including the creation of a new division to manage US user data for TikTok,” CEO Shou Zi Chew wrote to TikTok employees. “This is an important investment in our privacy practices and also changes the scope of the Global Chief Security Officer’s role. With this in mind, Roland has decided to step down from his day-to-day operations as global CSO, effective September 2.”

That’s what a TikTok spokesman said The Wall Street Journal Cloutier did not oversee the new team managing US user data. This department reports directly to Chew. Cloutier’s departure has nothing to do with lawmakers’ concerns about U.S. data security, the spokesman said, and the move has been in the works for several months.

Last month, reported that China-based engineers from TikTok’s parent company ByteDance accessed non-public data of US TikTok users multiple times between at least last September and January. TikTok said it now stores all US users’ data on Oracle cloud servers in the country and is working to remove such private data from its own servers. In a letter to a group of Republican senators this month, the Chew company focused on dispelling “any doubt about the security of US user data.”