by Ali Mansfield, Camden and Haringey Socialist Party
TikTok has announced hundreds of redundancies for workers in content moderation and its Trust and Safety department — with bosses citing the use of AI as justification for the redundancies.
Dozens of workers demonstrated in front of TikTok offices against this attack on jobs on 4 September.
Photo: London SP
Workers saw through TikTok’s clear act of union-busting, as the redundancy notice came just one week before a vote on trade union recognition for a Communication Workers Union branch. Jobs are already being advertised at a fraction of the pay in other countries. TikTok’s own report states that “Human insight plays a crucial role in the content moderation process”!
Several people came out of the offices to join the demonstration, and were met with an appeal to join the union, pointing out that union-busting tactics show the bosses recognise the power of workers organising together. Despite yearly revenue growing 38% last year, there was a sense of further attacks on the way: “If this is how they treat core staff in safety and moderation jobs, imagine what else they’re willing to cut.” But demonstrators showed a defiant mood to fight back.