Tiktok Moderator Redundancies “Union Busting” And “Putting Millions At Risk”
COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION
22/08/2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TIKTOK MODERATOR REDUNDANCIES “UNION BUSTING” AND “PUTTING MILLIONS AT RISK”
TikTok’s latest rounds of redundancies are an act of “union-busting” that will put “millions of British users at risk”, workers have claimed.
The global company has made redundancy announcements today (Friday 22nd August), in what looks likely to be a significant reduction of the platform’s vital moderation teams.
Hundreds of moderators and other Trust and Safety workers at the company’s London-based offices are members of the United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW) branch of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and have been engaged in a union recognition campaign.
Alongside concerns ranging from workplace stress to a lack of clarity over questions such as pay scales and office attendance policy, workers have also raised concerns over the quality of artificial intelligence (AI) in content moderation, believing such ‘alternatives’ to human work to be too vulnerable and ineffective to maintain TikTok user safety.
The vote for union recognition is due to begin on Friday 29th August, with several members’ meetings, rallies and events planned for the coming weeks.
Commenting, Communication Workers Union National Officer for Tech John Chadfield said: “This news will put TikTok’s millions of British users at risk.
“TikTok workers have long been sounding the alarm over the real-world costs of cutting human moderation teams in favour of hastily developed, immature AI alternatives.
“This has been a constant concern throughout the process of TikTok workers’ efforts to form a union.
“That TikTok management have announced these cuts just as the company’s workers are about to vote on having their union recognised stinks of union-busting and putting corporate greed over the safety of workers and the public.”
ENDS
For further queries, please contact CWU Press Officer Marcus Barnett at mbarnett@cwu.org.