Tik Tok is reducing headcount, globally. As per a report by The Information, up to 1,000 will be affected, primarily in the operations, content and marketing teams.
The exact number of people to be laid off is not officially known. However, what is known is that the global user operations team is being dismantled altogether, as per media reports. This team is the one that handles user support and communication. The members of the team who are escaping the axe are likely to be shifted to other departments.
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok is already grappling with a crisis brought on by the recent US legislation prohibiting TikTok in the US. It is pertinent to mention here that TikTok has about 150 million users in the US, and its largest team of about 7,000 is also based here. In fact, the US is a significant revenue generator for the video-streaming app.
The US government will allow TikTok to operate only on the condition that an American firm purchases it.
However, ByteDance, which is determined not to sell TikTok, has chosen not to take things lying down. It has opted to go the legal way against the US government arguing that the ban is a violation of the Frst Amendment rights of TikTok users in the US.
The question is that with the pressure from the US government mounting, will ByteDance give in and consider a sale that excludes its proprietary algorithm?
