TikTok urged to clarify how it will moderate content amid proposed job cuts

MPs have demanded TikTok provides clarity on how it will protect users from harmful content amid proposed job losses.

The video-sharing app has put more than 400 jobs at risk in London as part of a restructuring of its trust and safety operations, which moderate content.

TikTok has said the plan would see work concentrated in fewer sites globally as it invests in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to scale up its moderation.

But the increased use of AI “directly contradicts” its previous emphasis on the importance of human moderators in removing material, the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee said.

Chairwoman Dame Chi Onwurah asked the company a series of questions including how the at-risk jobs support the moderation process, whether risks to user safety have been assessed, and whether cut staff’s responsibilities will be replaced by third-party providers.

She set a November 10 deadline for the firm to respond.

Dame Chi said: “It’s concerning to hear that TikTok is planning to make significant cuts to its trust and safety teams – especially given that just six months ago it was telling the committee how central they are to its content moderation process.

“Social media companies must do far more to protect users from harmful and misleading content, and TikTok clearly has a responsibility to ensure the safety of its UK users through robust moderation practices. How can it effectively do so, when its cutting staff that only a few months ago it said were critical for this?

“TikTok seem to be backtracking on statements it made only half a year ago. This raises alarming questions not only about its accountability to the us, but also about its plans to keep users safe.

“They must provide clarity urgently and answer key questions about its changes to its content moderation process, otherwise, how can we have any confidence in their ability to properly moderate content and safeguard users?”

In a letter to the MP, dated October 20 and published by the committee, TikTok’s Northern Europe public policy director Ali Law said the restructuring proposals were “solely designed to improve the speed and efficacy of our moderation processes in order to increase safety on our platform”.

He said “the majority of those potentially affected are not in front line moderation roles”.

The Chinese-owned company has already been making lay-offs within its trust and safety teams around the world, including its German head office in Berlin.