By Zainab Shafiq 
TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, is laying off hundreds of employees globally to shift its reliance on artificial intelligence for content moderation. Over 700 employees were axed in Malaysia alone, according to the sources. However, TikTok moved to correct this later, saying that fewer than 500 were let go in the country. The layoff took place on Wednesday as employees would receive a layoff notice via email.
These are part of a broader effort by TikTok to rationalize its operations, especially content moderation. A company spokesperson confirmed that TikTok is laying off hundreds of employees worldwide as it improves its global operating model. The transformation will help the firm focus more on automated technologies, which currently account for the removal of 80% of the content violating the guidelines of the platform.
TikTok is laying off hundreds of employees which will make it ‘operationally efficient’
TikTok reportedly plans to axe hundreds of employees – it will assist it in becoming more operationally efficient. The move is according to its plan to invest $2 billion globally this year in efforts related to trust and safety. Most of the employees falling under this category were content moderators whose tasks heavily relied on AI. Human moderating is still part of the process but in an organization looking to automate more of these jobs, however.
Layoffs are also being driven by increased regulatory pressure in Malaysia. The government has asked social media platforms to apply for an operating license by January to take more stringent action against cybercrime. Balancing human oversight and AI efficiency in content moderation is the challenge that TikTok, like other tech giants, faces as worries about harmful content online keep swelling.
This development marks a great shift in how TikTok will handle its interface going forward.
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