TikTok may replace hundreds of UK moderators with artificial intelligence

Social media platform TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, may cut hundreds of employees in its UK division responsible for content moderation and platform safety, Report informs via Financial Times.

Employees in the London office received a letter from management stating that moderation will no longer be conducted from the UK. According to the British Communication Workers’ Union, around 300 staff members work in the London division, most of whom could lose their jobs.

Moderation tasks are expected to be partly shifted to other countries with lower labor costs — including Dublin and Lisbon — and partly handled by AI.

“Technological innovations, including the development of large language models, are changing our approach,” the letter said.

The news comes as the UK’s Online Safety Act recently came into force, requiring platforms to verify users’ ages and limit potentially harmful content for those under 18. TikTok introduced such a feature last month and plans to increasingly rely on AI tools to analyze user behavior for age verification.