- TikTok will send layoff notices to an unspecified number of staff members tonight
TikTok will today begin shedding a “large percentage” of its 1,000-strong global workforce, it has emerged.
The company, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, will lay off employees across its global user operations, content and marketing teams, current employees have been told The information.
The exact number of layoffs is unknown, but insiders claim that TikTok is completely dissolving its global operations team, which handles user support and communications.
Such a large-scale layoff is unusual for ByteDance, which typically implements cost-cutting measures in smaller phases, according to experts.
TikTok’s alleged downsizing comes just weeks after President Joe Biden signed a law banning the platform in the US unless it is sold to an American company.
TikTok will today begin shedding a “large percentage” of its 1,000-strong global workforce, it has emerged. Current employees claim the company will send layoff notices to an unspecified number of employees late Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Pictured: TikTok headquarters in Singapore
Current employees told the news outlet that TikTok would send layoff notices to an unspecified number of staffers late Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
The sources also claimed that the global user operations team will be cut.
Members of that team who are not laid off will be moved to other departments, such as trust and safety, marketing, content and product.
TikTok already laid off dozens of employees at the beginning of this year, but is said to “rarely” carry out large-scale layoffs that have become more common at other technology companies.
It comes as Biden last month signed a law giving ByteDance until January 19 to sell TikTok, used by 170 million Americans, to a US-based company or face a ban.
The law bans app stores such as Apple and Alphabet’s Google from offering TikTok and prohibits internet hosting services from supporting the short video app unless ByteDance divests TikTok.
The White House has said it wants Chinese ownership to end for national security reasons, but not through a ban on TikTok.
TikTok’s alleged downsizing comes just weeks after President Joe Biden (pictured yesterday) signed a law banning the platform in the US unless it is sold to an American company
A group of TikTok creators said last week they had filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court to block the proposed law.
“Although they come from different places, professions, walks of life and political beliefs, they are united in their vision that TikTok provides them with a unique and irreplaceable means to express themselves and form community,” the lawsuit said.
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, a law firm representing the creators, provided Reuters with a copy of the lawsuit that was reportedly filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The lawsuit, which seeks preliminary injunction, says the law threatens free speech and “promises to shut down a discreet means of communication that has become part of American life.”
ByteDance filed a similar lawsuit earlier this month, arguing that the law violates the U.S. Constitution on a number of grounds, including violating the First Amendment’s free speech protections.
TikTok creators filed a similar lawsuit in 2020 to block an earlier attempt to block the app, and also filed a lawsuit in Montana last year asking a court to block a state ban.