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‘Not an easy ride’: Ban anxiety triggers TikTok execs to rethink their next moves


Advertisers may still be standing by TikTok for now, but its bosses are eyeing the door as the app’s future in the US becomes increasingly uncertain.

Since the beginning of the year, two senior representatives of the advertising team have already left. Sameer Singh, General Manager for Global Business Solutions North America, is supposedly leaving platform after three and a half years of service. He is understood to be available to support his squad’s move until the end of February. A few days later, it was announced that Jack Bamberger, managing director of agency business for the region, already had left January 3, he has only been working at TikTok since March 2024.

While they haven’t publicly said why they left, the timing is hard to ignore – coming just a few days before The Supreme Court heard a landmark case last week (January 10) that could decide the platform’s fate in the US. Neither Singh nor Bamberger responded to Digiday’s request for comment.

It’s another chapter in the ongoing saga of uncertainty surrounding TikTok. Unsurprisingly, some employees are feeling the strain, and many are quietly considering their next steps.

“I went on LinkedIn and saw that there were a lot more people from TikTok who had recently checked the ‘Job Open’ badge on their profiles,” said Kelly Herrick, founder of digital recruiting firm Searchlight. “It means that someone activated it recently, so that makes me think that some of that is probably a result of what’s going on. [with the ban].”

Admittedly, this observation does not confirm a mass exodus from TikTok. But it’s consistent with a larger narrative about the mindset of many TikTok executives navigating this unpredictable climate.

“Over the past year, we’ve had inquiries from people interested in exiting TikTok, but that number has been accelerating in recent weeks,” said a US recruiter who specializes in the creator economy. And while they didn’t give details, they said the number of inquiries is in the triple digits.

Traders, many of whom rely heavily on TiKTok, are already feeling the early blow as the uncertainty shakes up their plans.

A U.S. agency executive, who traded anonymity for candor, said the TikTok team members he spoke to were getting more nervous and hedging their bets in a way they hadn’t seen before in 2024.

“At the time, many of them were optimistic about the future of the platform, almost boastful,” they said. “But one person I know has already left Google because he feels there is a more secure future there.”

Another US administration has agreed that account representatives have been leaving since the ban, which naturally creates a downward friction of pain points and problems working with the platform due to lower staffing levels.

Until recently, these concerns seemed to be limited to certain parts of the business. In fact, those working on the TikTok Shop felt relatively isolated — even after the bill ratifying the law was signed into law in April 2024. Back then, TikTok’s e-commerce division was booming and the team grew it to more than $100 million in gross merchandise value per day. in 2024, according to a former TiKTok employee who left the platform last summer.

“For the roles we were in, we were compensated far beyond the industry standard,” they added, though they did not share details. “People were hesitant to leave because the business was doing so well and the benefits and compensation were so good.”

But the former employee noted that in addition to the ban, discontent is already growing in other parts of the business, such as the content division, where layoffs have taken place.

“[TikTok COO] In Pappas leaves [in June 2023] led to this feeling among employees that the US was losing more of its power within the company,” they added. “And as the ban seemed more real this time, I saw people wanting to leave. Part of the reason I left was because the ban lit a fire under me to be more proactive in exploring and securing new, safer opportunities.”

As uncertainty mounts, TikTok is proving that even a marquee name can’t guarantee stability or peace of mind. Over the past three years, the company has been plagued by reports of culture clashes, a toxic work environment and a steady stream of employee departures—issues that have increasingly come to define life in the app.

As Searchlight’s Herrick noted, employees often describe TikTok to her as a challenging workplace.

She added: “I know people who are super, super talented who worked there and when I check back, they’re gone,” she said. “It’s not an easy ride. I knew a very talented salesman who was there [at TikTok] who left a few years ago and I remember hearing from her how it was quite relentless and not a good environment.’

These anecdotes echo what many marketers have told Digiday about their interactions with TikTok over the past two years. Platform meetings often involved a chaotic dynamic characterized by an excessive number of participants – some of whom were not even introduced – and a general sense of disarray. One former TikTok employee compared the internal culture to “chickens running around with their heads cut off”.

Could it be compared to normal life in a startup? Maybe. Except TikTok isn’t a startup anymore. And Digiday has often been told by TikTok executives that turnover is a normal part of the process for a company growing as fast as TikTok and shifting priorities. And rightly so – living in any rapidly expanding company brings challenges. It still leaves a bitter aftertaste for some former TikTok employees.

“I know managers who were fired without reason, then TikTok refused to pay severance and just kept the case in legal limbo for about a year or two just to suck the individual out,” said the American recruiter..

TikTok did not respond to Digiday’s request for comment.



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