Ex-TikTok executive claims she was fired for reporting sex, age bias

A former top marketing executive at TikTok sued the social media company and its China-based parent ByteDance on Thursday, claiming she had been forced out of her job after she complained about sex, age and disability discrimination.

Katie Puris said in a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court that her 2022 firing was the culmination of a series of incidents where she reported bias and, in one case, sexual harassment to supervisors and human resources.

Puris, who was nearing 50 when she was fired, claims she was subjected to derogatory comments about her age and that ByteDance chairman Zhang Lidong believed women “should remain quiet and humble at all times” and preferred “docility and meekness” in female employees.