AI-related job restructuring elicits employee dissent: TikTok staff members voice concerns over proposed dismissals
**TikTok Employees Stage One-Day Strike in Berlin over AI-Driven Job Cuts**
On July 23, 2025, around 150 employees at TikTok's German headquarters in Berlin took part in a one-day strike to protest planned layoffs aimed at replacing their jobs with artificial intelligence (AI). The workers, mainly content moderators and staff in the Trust and Safety and Live departments, are concerned about the company's decision to outsource their roles to AI systems developed in China and external service providers.
The union Verdi called the strike, citing high profits made by TikTok as justification for the employee demands. The strikers are demanding severance payments equivalent to three years’ salary for each affected employee, an extension of the notice period by twelve months, recognition of their specialized skills, and genuine negotiations with the company.
The planned layoffs threaten the employment and residency status of some workers in Germany, adding urgency to the situation. The employees argue that the skilled labor required for content moderation and the traumatic stress involved in these jobs are being disregarded by TikTok's decision to replace them with AI.
The strike marks the first known industrial action against a social media company in Germany, signaling growing worker organizing in the platform economy. The planned layoffs risk significant job losses and undermine the content safety infrastructure critical for platform compliance with EU regulations like the Digital Services Act.
Employees voiced concerns that replacing humans with AI in moderation may reduce safety and compliance quality, posing risks to users and regulatory integrity. They have been training these AI systems themselves, raising the rallying cry: "We trained your machines – pay us what we deserve!"
The strike brought public attention to TikTok’s high profits (over $23 billion annually) contrasted with the treatment of its frontline moderators, emphasizing the demand for corporate social responsibility. The event highlighted the risks posed to both workers’ livelihoods and platform safety, as well as the need for meaningful negotiations and fair compensation for those affected by the planned dismissals.
TikTok, which belongs to the Chinese Bytedance conglomerate and is particularly popular among young people, has approximately 1.5 billion users worldwide. The strikers organized a boat tour on the Spree in the morning and a rally later in the day to make their voices heard. Despite repeated union requests, management has reportedly rejected negotiations on these demands.
- Concerns within the fintech industry and business sectors are escalating, as the industry contemplates the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) infiltrating traditionally human labor roles, such as content moderation, as demonstrated by TikTok's planned AI-driven job cuts.
- The unionized employees in the technology field argue that their specialized skills and the trauma involved in their roles should be recognized and valued, particularly when they are training the AI systems intended to replace them.
- As global finance continues to evolve with technological advancements, these incidents serve as a reminder of the importance of fostering a responsible and equitable relationship between businesses, technology, and their workforce, to maintain the well-being and safety of both platforms and their users.
