London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Jul 12, 2025

TikTok CEO says the company is set up to avoid the kind of job cuts Elon Musk made at Twitter: 'We don't need to lay off half the workforce to achieve the efficiency levels that we want'

TikTok CEO says the company is set up to avoid the kind of job cuts Elon Musk made at Twitter: 'We don't need to lay off half the workforce to achieve the efficiency levels that we want'

Days after reports that Elon Musk laid off many contracted content moderators, TikTok's CEO says moderators are key to keeping a platform safe. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the company won't need to cut half its staff like Twitter.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said that the company is well-equipped to avoid mass layoffs in response to questions related to Elon Musk's decision to fire around half of Twitter's staff to cut costs.

"I hope that day never comes," Chew said during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore on Wednesday. "The way we are organized is one where we don't need to lay off half the workforce to achieve the efficiency levels that we want to achieve."

Chew emphasized that content moderation plays a critical role in efforts to secure TikTok, which is why the platform employs tens and thousands of employees in content moderation, he said. 

"For many tech companies, including ourselves, one of the largest teams that you will have is your trust and safety team," Chew said, according to Bloomberg. "That is an investment that is definitely worthwhile if you want to keep the platform a very safe platform."

Chew said that its "too early too tell" what direction Twitter is headed under Musk's leadership. 

Chew's remarks come just days after Musk began layoffs for content moderators that were outsourced under contracts at Twitter, which led some to voice concern over how the platform will battle misinformation.

While Twitter hasn't confirmed how many contract workers it laid off, content moderation expert Sarah Roberts, who was a staff researcher at Twitter, tweeted on Sunday that at least 3,000 of them lost their jobs on Saturday night. 

At the same time, TikTok reportedly pledged to double its engineering staff in Mountain View, California to 2,000 employees to beef up data security protocols, two people familiar with the matter told The Information.

Despite industry-wide layoffs across the tech sector, TikTok continues to see its overall earnings grow. Still, the platform slashed its global ad revenue target by around $2 billion earlier this month in response to plummeting sales, blaming the company's advertising and e-commerce teams for underperforming.

TikTok has also come under scrutiny after TikTok confirmed in a letter to Republican senators sent in late June that ByteDance employees based in China can access US user data.

An October report said the platform's parent company ByteDance had discussed plans to gather location data on at least two users in the US. TikTok said in a statement at the time that its app "does not collect precise GPS location information from US users."

TikTok's influence on the US is now seen by the FBI as a national security threat to the country, FBI's investigation director Christopher Wray told lawmakers on Tuesday. He said he was "extremely concerned" that the Chinese government may use TikTok to collect data on millions of American users, manipulate recommendation algorithms, and control software that can compromise millions of personal devices.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
A 92-year-old woman, who felt she doesn't belong in a nursing home, escaped the death-camp by climbing a gate nearly 8 ft tall
French Journalist Acquitted in Controversial Case Involving Brigitte Macron
Elon Musk’s xAI Targets $200 Billion Valuation in New Fundraising Round
Kraft Heinz Considers Splitting Off Grocery Division Amid Strategic Review
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
EU Proposes New Tax on Large Companies to Boost Budget
Trump Imposes 35% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Amid Trade Tensions
Junior Doctors in the UK Prepare for Five-Day Strike Over Pay Disputes
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Biden’s Doctor Pleads the Fifth to Avoid Self-Incrimination on President’s Medical Fitness
Grok Chatbot Faces International Backlash for Antisemitic Content
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
×