Who is Kevin Mayer, the new boss of TikTok and old at Disney?

The business man of 58 years was chosen to take the head of the famous social network TikTok, having managed platforms streaming of Disney +.

Kevin Mayer, the former head of the platforms of streaming Disney (Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+), will take the lead on the very popular social network TikTok on June 1, announced on Monday, the chinese group ByteDance, mother house of the application.

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Kevin Mayer "report directly to Zhang Yiming, founder and CEO of ByteDance, and will be responsible for the international development of the group," the statement said. He will oversee sales, marketing, public relations, security, moderation of content and legal affairs, specific ByteDance.

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as director of operations, he will direct "the music, the video games and the emerging activities", in addition to TikTok. "Kevin is one of the patrons of the most accomplished in the world of the entertainment industry, it is therefore very well placed to propel the portfolio of products ByteDance at the top level," said Zhang Yiming.

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In fact, this former Disney 58 years old leaves the enchanted Kingdom at the time when the group, including the young platform of streaming Disney+ has conquered nearly 55 million subscribers, is facing the harsh reality of the pandemic, that has forced the amusement parks and cinemas to close temporarily. It was once regarded as a promising candidate for the new position of CEO of Disney. But the role was won by Bob Chapek, former president of theme parks and business of derivative products Disney, in February, reports Quartz.

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TikTok, who already had the wind in their sails before the coronavirus, has seen its popularity explode in the favor of the containment measures. Mayer will replace so Alex Zhu, the current manager of the application and brain at the origin of its success, which will focus on him now on the product and the strategy ByteDance. The application had 800 million users in January (according to DataReportal), and has been downloaded 65 million times by march and $ 56 million in April, according to the specialized site SensorTower.

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Kevin Mayer is the latest attempt of the company to convince users to TikTok, in particular the United States, that the social network is not only a chinese company but with an international vocation. If it becomes a little deposit american of the chinese group, the american federal government still has concerns about the management of personal data on the part of the application, and suspect the company to play a role of spying for Beijing, tells the Washington Post.

for this new project, Kevin Mayer said he is "glad of the opportunity to join the wonderful team of ByteDance. Like everyone else I have watched with admiration how the company has built something incredibly rare with TikTok : a global community for creative and positive".

But his success with more young people is also sometimes in difficulty. Several american groups defending the rights of minors and consumers, announced last week continue the social network to non-compliance of a decision on the protection of the private life of less than 13 years. They consider that TikTok continues to collect personal information about minors without notifying or asking the consent of parents.