TikTok’s global chief security officer (CSO), Roland Cloutier, is stepping down as the company transitions to using Oracle’s US-based servers to store Americans’ data (via The Wall Street Journal). The company shared an internal memo about the shift in a post on its newsroom, which states Cloutier will assume an advisory role, with TikTok’s head of security risk, vendor, and client assurance, Kim Albarella, taking over temporarily.
“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 Shou, Dingkun and other senior leaders,” Cloutier writes in the memo. Cloutier, who has been with TikTok since 2020, will officially step down from his position on September 2nd.In June, TikTok announced that it had started routing US users’ data to Oracle servers in an attempt to quell fears that China — where TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is based — has unbridled access to this information. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and ByteDance vice president of technology Dingkun Hong say the change comes as a way to “minimize concerns about the security of user data in the US,” but also “changes the scope of the Global Chief Security Officer (CSO) role.”CLOUTIER WASN’T INVOLVED IN MANAGING TIKTOK’S DEPARTMENT DEDICATED TO HANDLING US USER DATAA TikTok spokeswoman told the WSJ that Cloutier wasn’t involved in managing TikTok’s new department dedicated to the handling of US user data.
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He also explained that this institutional change happened months before US policymakers took notice of TikTok.TikTok has come under scrutiny for years for its ties to Byte Dance, which is based in China, and some US officials have accused the app of sending data from Americans to the Chinese government. Last month, BuzzFeed News published a report that TikTok employees in China “repeatedly” accessed US user data from at least September 2021 to January 2022.In response to the report, a group of Republican senators wrote a letter to TikTok questioning the veracity of the company’s data privacy testimony during hearings last October. TikTok responded to those concerns earlier this month by confirming its plans to work with Oracle to “fully protect user data.”
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