TikTok is laying off hundreds of its staff worldwide, including a significant number in Malaysia, as it aims to increasingly use AI for content moderation, the company announced on Friday.
It was initially reported that over 700 positions had been cut in Malaysia. However, TikTok, a subsidiary of China’s ByteDance, later specified that fewer than 500 Malaysian employees were impacted.
Most of the dismissed employees were part of the content moderation team and received their termination notices via email on Wednesday evening, according to insiders who preferred to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
TikTok confirmed these layoffs, noting that they are part of a broader strategy to enhance its moderation processes, with several hundred jobs affected worldwide.
TikTok combines automated systems and human reviewers to monitor the content on its platform. According to its website, ByteDance employs over 110,000 people across more than 200 cities worldwide.
Another round of job cuts is expected next month as the company plans to streamline some of its regional operations, one of the sources revealed.
A TikTok representative stated, “These adjustments are in line with our continuous effort to refine our global content moderation model.”
The company plans to allocate $2 billion globally to trust and safety initiatives this year, aiming for increased efficiency with 80% of content that violates guidelines now being detected by automated technology, the spokesperson added.
The layoffs were initially reported by The Malaysian Reserve on Thursday.
These job reductions come at a time when tech companies are under increased scrutiny in Malaysia, which now requires social media platforms to obtain an operating license by January to help combat cybercrimes.
Earlier this year, Malaysia observed a significant rise in malicious social media content and called on companies, including TikTok, to enhance their monitoring efforts.