TikTok is making major changes to its Trust & Safety unit, laying off staff worldwide as part of a restructuring effort, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The unit, responsible for content moderation, is facing job cuts across multiple regions.
Two sources revealed that Adam Presser, TikTok’s Head of Operations, who also oversees the Trust & Safety team, sent a memo to employees on Thursday, informing them of the layoffs. The job cuts reportedly began the same day, affecting teams in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
TikTok has yet to issue an official response regarding the layoffs.
The move comes at a turbulent time for the social media giant. According to reports, TikTok briefly went dark last month as a new U.S. law, effective January 19, put pressure on its parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the platform on national security grounds or face a potential ban.
TikTok’s Trust & Safety efforts have been under scrutiny for some time. In January 2023, CEO Shou Chew testified before Congress alongside Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and other tech leaders, where lawmakers accused social media companies of failing to protect children from rising threats, including online predators.
During the hearing, Chew stated that TikTok had committed over $2 billion to Trust & Safety measures. However, in October 2023, the company laid off hundreds of employees worldwide, including a significant number in Malaysia, as part of its shift toward AI-driven content moderation.
Despite these cuts, TikTok claims to have 40,000 Trust & Safety professionals working globally. According to Reuters, the exact scale of the latest layoffs remains unclear.
