KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — TikTok's decision to reduce its workforce will not impact its operations, and the company is cooperating with local authorities, particularly in content research and screening, as well as live sessions.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said during his meeting with TikTok Malaysia yesterday, the company confirmed that it still employs around 3,700 people, with layoffs affecting 481 workers.
"In fact, TikTok will open several new positions and increase the number of employees because there are several new services they will provide, including cloud computing and data centres.
"TikTok informed that wherever it operates, there is a moderation team. While the number of employees in this department has been reduced, it has not negatively impacted its operations in Malaysia or affected its cooperation with the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and the Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC),” he said.
He said this when met by reporters after attending the Lembah Pantai Health Programme with IMU Cares at PPR Kerinchi here today.
Fahmi said the termination was made by the company due to the widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to screen and moderate TikTok content.
“The team affected involved employees who were doing manual moderation. We can see that, in general, tasks that are repetitive and manual have been affected by the use of AI," he said.
Fahmi, however, asked TikTok to manually add moderators for content or live sessions in Chinese and Tamil, especially late at night.
"They are in the process of increasing the number of manual moderators, and I also requested that they improve content monitoring protocol, especially for TikTok live which sometimes happens in the middle of the night.
"As an example, the problem of cyber bullying in TikTok live sessions happened at 1am, 3am and the moderation team was not operating at that time. They are aware and are improving their operations," he said.
— Bernama
