TikTok Chief Operating Officer V. Pappas is stepping down after five years with the short-video company owned by China’s ByteDance, according to an e-mail seen by Reuters on Thursday. In an e-mail to staff, Pappas said they would be taking on an advisory role for the company during the transition. “Given all the successes reached at TikTok, I finally feel the time is right to move on and refocus on my entrepreneurial passions,” said Pappas, who uses the pronoun they. The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.