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TikTok Hit With Discrimination Lawsuit by Exec Who Says Company Wanted ‘Docility’ From Women

TikTok has been hit with a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by a former executive who says she was wrongfully terminated by the social media giant.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday (Feb. 8) in Manhattan federal court, Katie Ellen Puris claims she was wrongfully terminated as the head of the company’s global business marketing team — a role that she says made her one of TikTok’s “most senior female executives in the United States.” Her lawyers claim she was fired after she began to meet regularly with Lidong Zhang, the chairman of TikTok parent ByteDance, because he and other executives “determined that Ms. Puris lacked the docility and meekness specifically required of female employees.” The new lawsuit was filed by the law firm Wigdor, which has also launched a slew of major sexual abuse cases against music industry executives and artists, including a high-profile complaint against Sean “Diddy” Combs.

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