TikTok is being accused of “backtracking” on its safety commitments, as it puts hundreds of moderator jobs at risk in its London office.
In August, the company announced that hundreds of jobs were at risk in its Trust and Safety offices.
In an open letter to MPs, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said on Thursday that TikTok is “looking to replace skilled UK workers with unproven AI-driven content moderation and with workers in places like Kenya or the Philippines who are subject to gruelling conditions, poverty pay”.
Sky News understands that a number of the 400+ moderators losing their jobs will be replaced by agency workers in other countries, as part of TikTok’s efforts to streamline its trust and safety operations.
TikTok’s moderators in Dublin and Berlin have also reported they are at risk of redundancy.
Now, the chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee, Dame Chi Onwurah MP, has told the company the job losses “bring into question” TikTok’s ability to protect users from harmful and misleading content.
“TikTok seem to be backtracking on statements it made only half a year ago,” said Dame Chi.
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“This raises alarming questions not only about its accountability […], 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?”
She set a 10 November deadline for the firm to respond.
In an exchange of letters with the social media giant, Dame Chi pointed out that as recently as February this year, TikTok’s director of public policy and government, Ali Law, had “highlighted the importance of the work of staff to support TikTok’s [AI] moderation processes”.
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In the exchange that the committee published on Thursday, Mr Law said: “We reject [the committee’s] claims in their entirety, which are made without evidence.
“To be clear, the proposals that have been put forward, both in the UK and globally, are solely designed to improve the speed and efficacy of our moderation processes in order to increase safety on our platform.”
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A TikTok spokesperson also told Sky News: “As we laid out in our letter to the committee, we strongly reject these claims.
“This reorganisation of our global operating model for trust and safety will ensure we maximise effectiveness and speed in our moderation processes as we evolve this critical safety function for the company with the benefit of technological advancements.”
Last month, TikTok moderators told Sky News that young people in the UK may be exposed to more harmful content if the redundancies go ahead.
“If you speak to most moderators, we wouldn’t let our children on the app,” said one moderator, who asked to remain anonymous. He spoke to Sky News at a protest outside the company’s UK headquarters.
At the time, TikTok told Sky News they “strongly reject these claims”.
