AT LEAST a dozen TikTok employees in Singapore were let go with immediate effect, as the firm trimmed its back-end teams globally to better align operations to long-term growth plans, The Straits Times has learnt.
Letters went out to employees in its trust and safety department on Thursday (Feb 20) to inform them about the internal reorganisation.
The cuts affected teams in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US, a source familiar with the layoffs told ST.
The e-mail to Singapore employees, seen by ST, said the layoffs in the trust and safety team come after months of careful consideration. The move is for operational efficiency and will better align with its business needs, according to the e-mail.
Some employees who received the e-mail kept their roles. Others had their access cut off an hour after they were informed on Feb 20 that their jobs had been slashed.
Among those affected was trust and safety product manager Eric Tan, who shared on professional networking platform LinkedIn that he “woke up to the sobering news” that he had been made redundant.
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The employee of more than three years at TikTok said: “This wave of layoffs impacted multiple departments across Trust and Safety, including some really bright and passionate individuals I have come to know.”
“The news of the layoffs stung, because deep down in my heart I knew I was meant to be there.”
Worldwide, TikTok had more than 40,000 professionals handling trust and safety, said TikTok chief executive Chew Shou Zi in a testimony on social media harm to children before the US Senate judiciary committee in January 2024.
At the time, Chew said TikTok planned to invest more than S$2.67 billion in trust and safety efforts in 2024, with a significant part of the investment in its US operations.
It is not clear how many of these 40,000 employees handling trust and safety matters were based in Singapore. It is also not clear whether the Feb 20 cuts affected other departments.
ST has contacted TikTok for comment.
When ST reached TikTok’s office at One Raffles Quay around noon, workers donning the firm’s lanyards could be seen leaving for lunch in groups, appearing upbeat. Many employees declined to comment on the latest cuts when approached.
The latest exercise follows major recent cuts by TikTok of its global workforce in 2024.
In May 2024, TikTok had reportedly planned to lay off a large proportion of roughly 1,000 workers from its global user, content and marketing teams worldwide.
In October 2024, TikTok said it laid off hundreds of employees from its global workforce, including a large number of staff in Malaysia amid its shift towards a greater use of artificial intelligence in content moderation.
Fewer than 500 employees across the Causeway were affected by the cut. ST reported that Singapore was not impacted by the changes then.
As at Feb 20, more than 380 job openings and internship positions were listed for Singapore on the career website of ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company.
ByteDance said it has more than 150,000 employees based in nearly 120 cities globally.
Several people in the local tech sector have offered help to the affected TikTok workers.
In a LinkedIn post, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) director Jamin Tan called on employers with job vacancies to consider TikTok workers affected by the latest cut. The former TikTok employee, who had led regional and global teams at TikTok, said he has two data protection vacancies in IMDA.
While TikTok Singapore is a non-unionised company, some employees are members of the NTUC-affiliated Tech Talent Assembly, which is reaching out to members to offer help, if needed. Affected union members can contact the assembly at ttab@ntuc.org.sg.
A former TikTok employee who left the company before the recent layoffs said the latest move “blindsided” some employees. But it was not a surprise to others, as many tech companies have conducted similar cuts in the past few years.
In February, Meta conducted company-wide layoffs that hit more than a dozen countries, including Singapore. The roles cut in Singapore spanned a range of functions, including those in engineering, partnerships, global business operations and policy.
The tech giant, which owns Facebook and Instagram, had said a month ago that it would lay off 5 per cent of its “lowest performers”, impacting about 3,600 jobs worldwide, including those in Asia.
Alvin Aloysius Goh, the executive director of the Singapore Human Resources Institute, said that retrenchments are expected to continue as firms across sectors adjust their course to stay competitive.
The increase in tech demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to a hiring spree especially in the tech sector post Covid-19, is petering out resulting in firms now recalibrating the size of their workforce, he said.
“Even so, opportunities remain in high-growth sectors such as artificial intelligence, cyber-security and green technology,” he said. THE STRAITS TIMES
