Social media platform TikTok is laying off hundreds of employees from its global workforce, including a large number of staff in Malaysia, the company said on Friday, as it shifts focus towards a greater use of AI in content moderation, Reuters reported.

Two sources familiar with the matter earlier told Reuters that more than 700 jobs were slashed in Malaysia. TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, later clarified that less than 500 employees in the country were affected.

The employees, most of whom were involved in the firm’s content moderation operations, were informed of their dismissal by email late Wednesday, the sources said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak.

In response to Reuter’s queries, TikTok confirmed the layoffs and said that several hundred employees were expected to be impacted globally as part of a wider plan to improve its moderation operations.

TikTok employs a mix of automated detection and human moderators to review content posted on the site.

TechCrunch reported ByteDance’s TikTok is laying off hundreds of employees, mainly in Malaysia, according to Reuters. The cuts come as the social media network is increasingly turning to AI for content moderation. The cuts do not impact employees in the U.S.

Although TikTok did not provide the exact number, it said that less than 500 people were affected. 

“We’re making these changes as part of our ongoing efforts to further strengthen our global operating model for content moderation,” a TikTok spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We expect to invest $2bn globally in trust and safety in 2024 alone and are continuing to improve the efficacy of our efforts, with 80% of violative content now removed by automated technologies.”

PCMag reported an estimated 500 TikTok employees in Malaysia are being laid off, according to the video platform’s parent company ByteDance.

Laid-off staff were notified of their terminations by email on Wednesday, according to some of the employees. TikTok is also looking to further consolidate some of its regional operations in the coming months — and previously laid off staff in marketing and operations earlier this year.

TikTok already uses a mix of human and automated content moderation, where AI scans uploaded videos for potential nudity, violence, or other material that could violate TikTok’s rules. If a user appeals a ruling that restricts or flags their content, a human moderator may review it.

TikTok moderators told the outlet that any psychological support is just for show, that moderators are heavily surveilled. If they don’t renew a minimum number of videos a month, they may lose up to a quarter of their salary as deducted bonus pay.

One moderator explained that they have to review 900 videos a day, and only watching 700 videos a day is considered “work avoidance.”

In my opinion, it seems impossible for individual TikTok workers to review 900 videos a day. My best guess is that TikTok is leaning towards AI moderation instead of human workers.

Next week, a court will hear arguments about whether the US government can ban TikTok, based on evidence it doesn’t want anyone — including the social media company — to see, The Verge reported.

On September 16th, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hear oral arguments for TikTok v. Garland, TikTok’s First Amendment challenges to legislation that it claims amounts to a ban. It’s a fight not just about free speech but whether the Department of Justice can make a case using classified material that its opponent can’t review or argue against. The government argues TikTok is a clear national security threat, but says that revealing why would be a threat, too.

According to The Verge, TikTok’s suit stems from a law signed by President Joe Biden back in April. The law requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest it within nine months to a non-Chinese company; if it fails, the app would be effectively banned in the US – unless the president grants it a few months to get a deal done.

TikTok has argued the law would unconstitutionally “force a shutdown,” accusing the government of taking “the unprecedented step of expressly angling out and banning TikTok.

The Hill reported bipartisan efforts to ban TikTok nationwide will be scrutinized Monday by a federal appeals court tasked with weighing whether axing the social media giant’s U.S. presence runs afoul of the First Amendment.

The social media platform and a group of content creators have sued over a new law that could ban the app, placing free speech concerns front and center but also raising a handful of other issues.

On Monday morning, the three-judge federal appeals court panel in the nation’s capital will hear their challenges and decide whether to block the law from going into effect as scheduled on Jan. 19.

President Biden signed the legislation in April after quickly passed Congress with bipartisan support, kicking into place the timeline for TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform or face a ban from U.S. app stores and networks.

ByteDance has contends divestment is practically impossible, meaning that the law effectively amounts to a nationwide ban of the video-sharing platform. 

Voice of America reported attorney’s representing the social media application TikTok and it’s China-based parent company ByteDance, are poised to clash with lawyers from the Department of Justice on Monday in a case that could decide the fate of the service in the United States.

The case, which will be heard at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, consolidate several lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of a law enacted earlier this year. The measure, which had broad bipartisan support in Congress, demands that ByteDance sell TikTok to a non-Chinese owner before January 19, 2025, or be forced to shut down its service within the U.S.

The law’s challengers claim that it represents an unconstitutional suppression of free speech, violating the First Amendment rights of TikTok’s estimated 170 million U.S. users.

In my opinion, the situation with TikTok (and ByteDance) just keeps going around and around. Ideally, TikTok and ByteDance might have to face consequences for collecting data from American citizens.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed into law measures to provide aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, as well as to compel Chinese TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a national ban, CNBC reported.

Biden’s official approval ends a six-month saga of tense political battles on Capitol Hill that led to a deadlock on the issue of foreign aid.

“The path to my desk was a difficult path. It should have been easier and it should’ve gotten there sooner,” Biden said Wednesday after signing the bill. “But in the end we did what America always does, we rose to the moment.”

The law earmarks roughly $60 billion in aide for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel and $8 billion for security in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific. It also requires ByteDance to sell TikTok within nine months – or a year, if Biden invokes a 90-day extension — or else face a nationwide ban in the U.S.

TikTok has already vowed to fight the measure.

Engadget reported the bill that will force a sale of TikTok in the United States is now law. President Joe Biden signed a package of foreign aide bills that included the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” one day after the legislation was approved by the Senate.

In a statement, TikTok said it would challenge the law in court, which could delay an eventual sale or ban. “This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court,” the company said. “We believe the facts and that law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail. The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation. This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans.”

The law gives TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, which is based in China, up to a year to sell the app to a new owner. If the company fails to divest, then TikTok will be banned from US apps stores and web hosting services.

The Verge reported President Joe Biden signed a foreign aid package that includes a bill that would ban TikTok if China-based parent company ByteDance fails to divest the app within a year.

The divest-or-ban bill is now law, starting the clock for ByteDance to make its move. The company has an initial nine months to sort out a deal, though the president could extend that another three months if he sees progress.

While just recently the legislation seemed like it would stall out in the Senate after being passed as a standalone bill in the House, political maneuvering helped usher it through to Biden’s desk. The House packaged the TikTok bill — which upped the timeline for divestment from the six months allowed in the earlier version – with foreign aid to US allies, which effectively forced the Senate to consider the measures together.

In my opinion, it makes sense for President Biden to give ByteDance time to sell TikTok to find a new buyer for the app. If ByteDance fails to divest, it will likely lose access to US apps stores.

The House overwhelmingly passed a measure Wednesday to force TikTok to split from its parent company or face a national ban, a lightning offensive that materialized abruptly after years of unsuccessful negotiations over the platform’s fate, The Washington Post reported.

The legislation, approved 352 to 65 with 1 voting present, is a sweeping bipartisan rebuke of the popular video-sharing app — and an attempt to grapple with allegations that its China-based parent, ByteDance, presents national security risks. The House effort gained momentum last week after President Biden said he would sign the bill if Congress passed it.

But it’s fate now rests in the Senate, where some lawmakers have expressed concerns it may run afoul of the Constitution by infringing on millions of Americans’ rights to free expression and by explicitly targeting a business operating in the United States.

Though TikTok is incorporated in the United States and has headquarters in Los Angeles, its ties to Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance have long triggered fears the app could be weaponized by Chinese government officials to snoop on Americans or shape their political views. The company says it has never shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government and would not do so if asked, and its critics have yet to present evidence to the contrary.

According to The Washington Post, Wednesday’s vote is the first time a chamber of Congress has approved legislation that could lead to the platform’s prohibition throughout the country.

The bill lacks a companion measure in the Senate, where lawmakers have pushed for competing approaches for months to tackle concerns over apps viewed as security threats. The dynamics signal a tougher and probably slower path to passage.

CNBC reported the House approved a bill Wednesday that calls for China tech giant ByteDance to divest TikTok or the popular social video app will effectively be banned in the U.S.

The measure passed with a resounding 352-65 vote with one member voting present.

The legislation, dubbed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications App, was introduced March 5 by Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Two days later, House members on the Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously to approve the bill, which refers to TikTok as a threat to national security because it is controlled by a foreign adversary.

The bill now heads to the Senate where it faces an uncertain future as senators appear divided about the legislation, and other federal and state-led efforts to ban TikTok have stalled.

Although House members who drafted the bill have previously said that it “does not ban TikTok,” the legislation in its current form requires ByteDance to divest TikTok within roughly six months in order for the app “to remain available in the United States.” If the bill is enacted, app store owners such as Apple and Google along with internet-hosting companies would be prohibited from supporting TikTok and other apps that are linked to ByteDance,

In my opinion, I think the Senate is not going to fall in line with the legislation created by two House committees. In general, what comes from the House goes to the Senate, and it is currently unclear how the Senate will view it.