TikTok chief executive Kevin Mayer pledges fake news fight in call with EU digital chief Thierry Breton

Mayer says he intends to play an active role fighting disinformation

Breton has held video meetings with leaders of Facebook, Google, Apple and Twitter to promote his campaign against fake news in the last two months

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Kevin Mayer, previously Walt Disney Co’s top streaming executive, left the US entertainment and theme parks giant to become TikTok’s CEO last month. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:34am, 10 Jun 2020Updated: 9:35am, 10 Jun 2020

Chinese-owned video app TikTok’s new chief executive Kevin Mayer has told EU digital chief Thierry Breton he intends to play an active role fighting disinformation, an EU official said on Tuesday, as Breton pushes tech giants to step up their efforts against fake news.

Breton in the last two months has held video conferences with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to promote his campaign against fake news and other issues.

TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, allows users to create short videos. It has exploded in popularity during the Covid-19 crisis but has recently been hit with privacy complaints and concerns stemming from its apparently close ties to Beijing.

Mayer, previously Walt Disney Company’s top streaming executive, left the US entertainment and theme parks giant to become TikTok’s CEO last month.

“Good conversation with Kevin Mayer, CEO of TikTok. Entertaining millions, TikTok has a role to play against disinformation,” Breton said in a tweet on Tuesday after a video call with Mayer.

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