TikTok Replaces 500 Malaysia Employees with AI Moderation

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is laying off more than 500 employees in Malaysia as part of a move to replace human content moderators with artificial intelligence (AI). The shift aims to increase efficiency in content moderation, as the company automates the task of enforcing community guidelines.

The employees affected by the layoffs were responsible for reviewing videos to ensure compliance with TikTok’s guidelines. However, ByteDance found that AI systems can detect and remove about 80% of content violations, making the moderation process faster and more cost-effective. The company confirmed to Reuters that similar layoffs are planned in other countries as TikTok transitions to AI-driven moderation on a global scale.

This change comes amid growing pressure on social media platforms to improve online safety, particularly for children and young adults. Governments around the world, including the U.S. and U.K., are pushing for stronger content moderation to protect users from inappropriate content, cyberbullying, and online predators. Recent initiatives, such as the U.K.’s Online Safety Bill and a new U.S.-U.K. partnership, seek to establish better guidelines and best practices for online safety.

Unfortunately, this also lines up with concerns of AI replacing human jobs – with 500 employees being a not-insignificant amount of jobs to cut. ByteDance argues that AI is key to keeping up with the demands of monitoring content on a global level, and has so far committed $2 billion – this year alone – into trying to comply with new regulations and strengthening its online security options.