TikTok confirms it is laying off hundreds of employees worldwide

Short video platform TikTok has confirmed that it is laying off hundreds of employees worldwide, including Malaysian employees. The affected Malaysian employees are mainly responsible for content review.

According to Malaysia's Sin Chew Daily, a TikTok spokesperson said: "This adjustment is to continuously enhance the operating model of global content review. Currently, 80% of illegal content is deleted through automated technology."

TikTok expects to invest US$2 billion (about S$2.6 billion) in global trust and security this year, and plans to further improve efficiency.

However, TikTok did not confirm the number of layoffs in Malaysia. Foreign media quoted two sources as saying that ByteDance has laid off more than 700 people from its Malaysian branch because the company will focus on the wider use of artificial intelligence (AI) for content review.

Sources said that TikTok had issued layoff notices by email on Wednesday night (October 9).

According to reports, TikTok expects hundreds of employees to be laid off worldwide as part of a larger plan to optimize the review process.

TikTok reviews platform content through a combination of automated technology and manual review.

Sources also said that ByteDance plans to make more layoffs next month to integrate operations in some regions.