Ex-TikTok official says ByteDance chairman has ‘kill list’ of workers, ‘stereotypical views’ on girls

Lidong Zhang, the chairman of TikTok’s Beijing-based father or mother ByteDance, has an ‘employee kill list’ and a ‘stereotypical way of how women should behave,’ an ex-managing director at TikTok has claimed in her lawsuit towards the corporate and its father or mother agency.

Katie Ellen Puris, who joined TikTok in 2019 and was terminated in September 2022 for ‘performance reasons,’ filed the lawsuit in a New York federal courtroom on Thursday, accusing ByteDance of ‘discrimination and retaliation.’

A former Google and Facebook worker, she was employed by TikTok’s New York workplace as a managing director and head of enterprise advertising within the United States, and, inside simply two months of becoming a member of, promoted to guide the worldwide enterprise advertising workforce, as per the criticism.

The ‘kill list’

By the second quarter of 2021, nevertheless, it was ‘very evident’ that Puris was on Zhang’s so-called ‘kill list,’ the lawsuit stated, including that in consequence, TikTok started ‘minimising’ her function, and left her out of sure choices that might influence her workforce.

“Part of Lidong Zhang’s ‘kill list’ method was to construct a case any worker he positioned on the checklist and instruct different workers to do the identical. Her well being started to endure beneath the stress and stress after she turned part of his checklist,’ in accordance with the criticism.

Views on girls

On his views on girls, the lawsuit said that he and different executives decided that Puris, one of many senior-most feminine executives within the US, ‘lacked the docility and meekness specifically required of female staffers.’

Additionally, Zhang was of the view that the way in which Puris celebrated her workforce’s accomplishments, was not according to the stereotypical gender mildew, it added.

‘Sexually harassed…’

The criticism additional said that in 2022, Puris was sexually harassed by a advertising firm employee in France, however TikTok ‘failed to respond appropriately.’