Jakarta, Gizmology – The company ByteDance is rumored to have fired 500 employees, mostly from the flagship TikTok app. The dismissal was due to the company’s policy of using AI technology to moderate content for their product services.
As is known, TikTok is a video content application with moderation requirements so that every video uploaded meets the applicable policies. So far, the moderation process has been carried out by human moderators through manual review. Later this began to be transferred to the use of AI technology.
AI technology used as a moderator makes the process faster and more efficient. It is also part of the company’s mission to be able to do the moderation process faster.
Quoted from Reuters, the dismissal process was carried out through an email sent to employees. Employees from the Southeast Asia region, particularly the Malaysian office, experienced the most dismissals.
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Dismissal Part of ByteDance’s Investment Target
The layoffs that have occurred are part of the company’s strategy to invest approximately US$2 billion globally. Investment is mainly aimed at improving efficiency, as well as overseeing the distribution of content. At least 80% of content deemed to violate the policy has been removed through the use of automated technology.
“We are making changes as part of our efforts to strengthen the global operating model for content moderation,” said a TikTok spokesperson as quoted by Reuters.
Prior to the dismissal in Malaysia, ByteDance had done the same to its Indonesian branch of the company. In June, at least 450 employees of the Indonesian branch were dismissed.
