TIK Tok aims to rival the ad revenue of digital titans such as Meta platformsbut a new report from my colleague Sylvia shows that turbulence within the short-form video app’s ad sales department threatens to throw it off course.
This turbulence includes a high pressure crop that has resulted in large circulation. Since top-down instructions still come from Beijing, employees are confused about how executives decide on revenue targets, according to current and former employees. At the same time, their training downplays the connection to China — for example, vendors point out to advertisers that TikTok’s data is stored in Singapore and the US and that the company is still a startup figuring things out, the report notes.
