TikTok has fired more than 700 employees from its Malaysia division, according to a Reuters report. Most of the employees were involved in content moderation for the platform. This is in line with TikTok’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) for content moderation.
#TikTok has laid off over 700 employees in Malaysia, mainly content reviewers, as it shifts to #AI moderation. More layoffs are expected as part of a global plan to optimize operations. pic.twitter.com/IbS7xBmSIU
— Tech Tech China (@techtechchina) October 13, 2024
International tech companies in Malaysia are facing more regulatory pressure, with the government requiring social media operators to apply for operating licences to combat cybercrime.
According to a report by the South China Morning Post, social media and internet messaging platforms with more than eight million users in Malaysia must obtain a licence by New Year’s Eve next year or incur penalties.
When questioned by Reuters, TikTok confirmed the retrenchment exercise but did not want to give the number of people who had lost their jobs.
“We anticipate that several hundred people will be impacted globally,” said a spokesman for TikTok.
Reuters reported that TikTok uses both automated detection and human moderators to review its content.
One ByteDance employee told BenarNews that TikTok has been training AI systems to take over content moderation tasks for some time.
“We used to tag videos that violated content policies, and the AI would learn from that. Now they’ve decided AI can handle it better – both cost-wise and in terms of efficiency,” said the employee.
ByteDance, which owns TikTok, is planning to invest US$2 billion in trust and safety this year and will continue to focus on efficiency. Some 80 percent of its content can now be removed by automated technologies.
Bloomberg reported in June that ByteDance had laid off 450 employees from its Indonesian unit following the acquisition of a local e-commerce firm.
According to its website, ByteDance has more than 110,000 employees in more than 200 cities around the world.
One source said there will be more retrenchments in the region next month.
Reuters reported that a TikTok representative had said in a statement, “We’re making these changes as part of our ongoing efforts to further strengthen our global operating model for content moderation.”