TikTok general counsel no longer in charge of working with officials to keep app in US
- Erich Andersen, the general counsel of TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance, is no longer overseeing US government relations for the app
- Andersen will continue to lead the work with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, one source says
TikTok has been in contact with US officials who oversee national security issues, trying to avoid the government banning the app in the US.
Erich Andersen, the general counsel of its Chinese owner ByteDance, was in charge of working with officials and trying to find a compromise that would keep TikTok available while protecting US user data. In the fall, he lost that responsibility, said people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because it is an internal matter. Andersen will continue to lead the work with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, one of the people said.
“The scope of Erich’s role has changed to allow him to focus more deeply on the company’s legal, trust and safety work,” a TikTok spokesperson said.
It is unclear who has taken over. Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, is still in that job.
TikTok has said it does not share data with the Chinese government and has strict access controls on user data for its employees and those of its parent company. Still, last month, ByteDance said some employees improperly accessed American user data in an attempt to track journalists.