TikTok Lays Off Nearly 500 Employees in Malaysia, Shifts to AI for Content Moderation

TikTok has laid off nearly 500 employees in Malaysia, primarily from its Trust and Safety Regional Operations, which handled content moderation, RFA reported yesterday.

This decision, made by parent company ByteDance, aims to replace human moderators with artificial intelligence tools, raising concerns among analysts regarding the effectiveness of AI in content moderation.

The layoffs come amid increased pressure from the Malaysian government for social media platforms to improve content moderation practices in response to rising online abuse and misinformation. Malaysia has introduced strict regulations effective January 1, 2025, requiring social media companies to obtain annual operating licenses.

TikTok plans to invest $2 billion globally in trust and safety initiatives in 2024, with automated technologies currently removing 80% of violative content. Earlier this year, Malaysia was the leading nation in requesting content removal, with TikTok responding to 2,002 requests to delete over 6,000 pieces of content, achieving a removal rate of approximately 90%.