TikTok Layoffs: Hundreds of Employees Affected In Malaysia

According to a report, the current round of TikTok layoffs have affected hundreds of workers as the company shifted gears towards AI to moderate content. The layoffs have affected mostly workers in Malaysia. No employees from the US have been affected.

The ByteDance-owned app has not provided the exact number of employees laid off, but the job cut is estimated to affect around 500 people. A spokesperson from TikTok has also stated that these layoffs were part of TikTok’s efforts to strengthen and grow its worldwide operating model for content moderation. The company has thus confirmed that the tech layoffs have to do with the company’s moving forward with AI.

TikTok is known to utilize both human moderators and AI to moderate content posted on its platform. However, with the TikTok layoffs taking place right now, the company might seek to obtain a completely automated future, or at least a majorly automated future. The social media giant has stated that it plans to invest around $2 billion in safety and trust in the current year. This investment will work towards improving the platform’s efficiency in removing the content that goes against TikTok’s guidelines. The video-sharing platform has also predicted for itself that automated technology would remove up to 80% of the unapproved content.

TikTok Layoffs: The platform’s past layoffs

This is not the first time in 2024, that TikTok laid off its employees. In April alone, the company let go of over 250 workers in Ireland. In January, TikTok laid off around 60 employees in advertising and sales. However, the biggest TikTok layoffs may be yet to come. Reports were circulating in May that the company was planning on laying off over 1,000 employees. These workers expected to be laid off worked in the marketing and operations division of the company.

Sound Search: TikTok’s New Shazam-Like Update

Image Credits: Photo by amrothman on Pixabay