TikTok UK shifts to AI moderation, hundreds of jobs at risk

Social media platform TikTok announced on Friday (Aug 22) it will restructure its UK trust and safety operations, putting several hundred jobs at risk as it shifts to AI-assisted content moderation.

The move is part of global restructuring plans by TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, which also affects moderator jobs in South and South-east Asia, notably in Malaysia.

“We are continuing a reorganisation that we started last year... concentrating our operations in fewer locations globally,” a TikTok spokesperson told AFP.

TikTok added that it plans to reshape content moderation “with the benefit of technological advancements.”

Content moderators are tasked with keeping content such as hate speech, misinformation and pornography off the platform, which has more than 1.5 billion users worldwide.

But, globally, there is a trend of social media companies reducing their use of human fact-checkers and turning to AI instead.

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Moderation technologies, including AI, take down over 85 per cent of content removed for violating TikTok’s guidelines, according to the company.

It also said it uses AI to help reduce the amount of distressing content moderators are exposed to.

Under the proposed plans, the work of employees affected by layoffs will be relocated to other European offices and some third-party providers.

“TikTok workers have long been sounding the alarm over the real-world costs of cutting human moderation teams in favour of hastily developed, immature AI alternatives,” said Communication Workers Union national officer John Chadfield.

He added that the layoffs “put TikTok’s millions of British users at risk.”

TikTok in June announced plans to increase investment in the UK, its biggest community in Europe, with the creation of 500 more jobs.

Around half the UK population, more than 30 million people, use TikTok each month.

The video-sharing platform has been in the crosshairs of Western governments for years over fears personal data could be used by China for espionage or propaganda purposes.

AFP, among more than a dozen other fact-checking organisations, is paid by TikTok in several countries to verify videos that potentially contain false information. AFP