A report said TikTok employees in the UK were informed that employees in other departments could lose their jobs. In the US, some employees received the news that they would be fired shortly after reporting to work on a Monday.
TikTok Is Cutting Work Due to Global Restructuring Efforts
According to Engadget, which cited a report by Wired, as part of the video platform's ongoing global restructuring efforts, some TikTok employees have already lost their jobs, while others have been advised to get ready for a meeting with the HR department.
One of the affected employees is David Ortiz, a US-based TikTok staffer, who wrote in a LinkedIn post on Monday that his job was "being eliminated in a much larger re-organization effort."
What Does the Social Media Said
When contacted by Wired, a TikTok spokesperson did not refute that layoffs were occurring. But they also declined to confirm whether TikTok is undergoing a global restructure, and also failed to provide the outlet a full explanation of why the company is laying off employees.
The number of TikTok employees that were let go or the overall number of jobs that were put at risk due to the restructure were not disclosed in Wired's report. However, one anonymous TikTok employee told Wired that there wouldn't be more than 100 layoffs.
Challenges that TikTok has recently faced
Business Insider mentioned that the layoffs occur as TikTok is also dealing with a fresh round of political criticism in the US. In recent weeks, officials from Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have questioned whether the social media giant is effectively safeguarding US user data from the Chinese government.
The outlet cited a BuzzFeed News report last month, which allegedly said that developers from "TikTok's parent company ByteDance had repeatedly accessed US user data from within China."
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Some TikTok Employees Have Left Work Without Being Retrenched
It was reported last month that employees all throughout the world are feeling the effects of the alleged overwork culture at TikTok. Citing a separate Business Insider report, it was said that Beijing-based ByteDance had a significant impact on TikTok's working culture.
Employees in Chinese tech companies used to follow the "996" schedule, meaning they work six days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. However, the "996" work practice was deemed illegal by China's top court last year, which led ByteDance to declare that its staff would not be permitted to work past 7 p.m.
However, it's said that some TikTok employees outside of China continue to put in more than 12 hours during workdays.
Ten current and former employees of TikTok in the UK claim that the exodus started in October, the month that TikTok's UK e-commerce division introduced TikTok Shop, a live-streaming e-commerce platform. The departure of 20 employees has reduced the team to half its original size.
These workers asserted that in order to work with China-based staff, they frequently had to extend their workdays over 12 hours.
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