Fri, 22 Aug 2025

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 TikTok to lay off hundreds of UK content moderators

The firm says it's planning to relocate work to its other offices in Europe and invest more in AI.
The decision is part of a global reorganisation aimed at strengthening TikTok's operating model for Trust and Safety, but has been criticised by the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which says it prioritises corporate greed over worker safety. Impacted staff work in TikTok's London office as well as hundreds more in Asia, with affected employees being offered the opportunity to apply for other internal roles. TikTok uses a combination of automated systems and human moderators to review content, with 85% of rule-breaking posts removed by AI. The company says this investment is helping reduce exposure to distressing footage for human reviewers. The move comes amid increased scrutiny in the UK, where companies are required to check the age of users on their platforms under new laws, with fines of up to 10% of a business' global turnover for non-compliance. TikTok has brought in new parental controls but faces criticism from regulators and labour unions.
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