ByteDance’s TikTok is axing hundreds of positions internationally due to a change in moderation strategy. The company said it was laying off workers on Friday; many of the workers expected to be laid off are based in Malaysia. This decision is in consonance with TikTok’s increased poignant in the use of artificial intelligence in moderating content, in a bid to increase efficiency and security on the application.
Artificial Intelligence at the Heart of Moderation Plan
Earlier estimates indicated that more than 700 workers in Malaysia would be laid off. However, in a statement made toGuardian by TikTok in response to the article, the company said that the figure was below 500. The restructuring is a radical transformation process that aims at cutting operation costs with reliance on the improved artificial intelligence for dealing with negative or obscene content.
As more social networks struggle with the problem of moderating toxic content, TikTok leans more and more on AI-based approaches. In addition, the platform of the user wants to fasten the speed and increase the effectiveness of the identification of violations in the provision of norms and values. The change is in line with the experience of other industries that adopt AI technologies to address the issues concerning cybersecurity.
The owner of TikTok, ByteDance is recognized for being at the frontier of AI and this move forms part of the firms holistic approach of automating its operations. The company has been increasing its investment on the R&D of Artificial Intelligence and TikTok is just one of the many moves by the company to streamline its workforce and technology.
The restructuring, which is said to be freeing the application from its previous dependence on manual content moderation and which will aid in revamping the social media platform for the modern world: It has left many of TikTok’s employees unsure of their positions. The spokesman of the company said that organizational policy means that the laid-off workers would be offered compensation for unemployment and occupations assistance. The decision also brings out the implications that firms have to balance when introducing innovations as means of improving operations.
TikTok Tells Moderators about the Layoffs
The terminated employees comprised mostly people who dealt with content moderation Across staff cuts emails were sent on late Wednesday, The Verge reported. These sources also said that such entities were fixed amid broader plans to redesign moderation across the world.
In response to questions from Reuters, TikTok substantiated the decision to reduce the headcount, saying that a few hundred employees around the globe would be let go. As for the moderation policies, the change is planned to bring improvement to the general practices: moderation is to remain a combined effort of artificial intelligence and human observation.
TikTok has automatic filters and censorships, as well as employ human to monitor and sort all the contents that are uploaded to the platform. The staff reduce demonstrates an advancing automation process, which the company thinks can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the moderation process.
The cut affects a relatively small subset of ByteDance’s tens of thousands of employees across the world who work in over 200 cities. This restructuring includes a strategic move to decentralise TikTok operations as it continues to grow and adapt to new technologies.
One source has said that TikTok plans more job cuts next month as it aims to bring some geographic operations together. It also implies that this current layoffs may be the first step towards more widespread effect aimed at restructuring the company in a bid to enhance efficiency in several markets.
In response, a TikTok spokesman said that the updates are a continuation of current measures aimed at improving its content moderation global operating model. This platform is still determined to follow this approach of having automatic resolution with basic supervision so as to enhance security of the end users.
TikTok shifts $2 billion investment to its Trust and Safety division
This year TikTok decided to invest 2 billion dollars in increasing the dependability and security of its application, with an emphasis on the optimization of the moderation process. As claimed by a company spokesperson, 80% of the content that violates guidelines are being taken down through automated technologies today.
These include the recent announcement of the merger of ByteDance’s news studio, must-read and layoffs – information discussed by The Malaysian Reserve on Thursday. The eliminations are viewed in line with the company’s long-term vision to reduce its global content moderation but the safety of the platforms is not left in jeopardy.
The effects of this has come at the wrong time especially when technology firms in Malaysia are coming under pressure from the regulators. The government has required social media companies, among them TikTok, to acquire an operating license by January to enhance the fight against cyber criminal activities.
In the first half of 2021, Malaysian authorities said there was an increased amount of toxic content on social media and asked corporations such as TikTok to enhance moderation. Recently the government increased the regulatory measures in the field of internet security and more stringent measures regarding the content moderation.
While hoping to bring even more automation to the process of content moderation, TikTok has to adapt to the changing legal restraints in regions such as Malaysia. Such investments in trust and safety planning is for compliance reasons while at the same time building the company’s ability to quickly take down problematic content.
