Former TikTok moderators in the UK have filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming they were unfairly sacked just before a planned vote to establish a collective bargaining unit. The 400 content moderators who were let go were unionizing, seeking better protection from the personal toll of processing traumatic online content at high speed.
According to John Chadfield, national officer for tech workers at the Communication Workers Union (CWU), "Content moderators have the most dangerous job on the internet." They are exposed to graphic and disturbing material, including child sex abuse images, executions, and war scenes. The CWU argues that TikTok's content moderation team is understaffed and under-resourced, with workers being asked to process vast amounts of traumatic content without sufficient support.
TikTok has denied the allegations of union-busting, claiming the layoffs were part of a restructuring plan aimed at adopting AI for content moderation. However, the company has revealed that 91 percent of transgressive content is now removed automatically by its AI system. The move to adopt AI has been criticized by workers and trade unions, who argue it undermines human judgment and expertise in moderating online content.
In August, TikTok announced a restructuring exercise just as hundreds of moderators were organizing for union recognition. John Chadfield described the timing of the announcement as "smelling of union-busting" and claimed that corporate greed was prioritized over worker safety and the public's right to know about the content on the platform.
The lawsuit filed by former TikTok moderators in the UK alleges that the company breached UK trade union laws and engaged in unfair dismissal. The workers had sought better protections against the personal toll of their job, including more say over how they kept the platform safe and input into their workflows.
According to John Chadfield, national officer for tech workers at the Communication Workers Union (CWU), "Content moderators have the most dangerous job on the internet." They are exposed to graphic and disturbing material, including child sex abuse images, executions, and war scenes. The CWU argues that TikTok's content moderation team is understaffed and under-resourced, with workers being asked to process vast amounts of traumatic content without sufficient support.
TikTok has denied the allegations of union-busting, claiming the layoffs were part of a restructuring plan aimed at adopting AI for content moderation. However, the company has revealed that 91 percent of transgressive content is now removed automatically by its AI system. The move to adopt AI has been criticized by workers and trade unions, who argue it undermines human judgment and expertise in moderating online content.
In August, TikTok announced a restructuring exercise just as hundreds of moderators were organizing for union recognition. John Chadfield described the timing of the announcement as "smelling of union-busting" and claimed that corporate greed was prioritized over worker safety and the public's right to know about the content on the platform.
The lawsuit filed by former TikTok moderators in the UK alleges that the company breached UK trade union laws and engaged in unfair dismissal. The workers had sought better protections against the personal toll of their job, including more say over how they kept the platform safe and input into their workflows.
. I mean, these people are literally dealing with traumatic stuff 24/7 and TikTok just fires them like it's no big deal? 
The timing of the restructuring announcement was super sus too - it's like they knew the mods were trying to unionize and just decided to get rid of them. 
And now we're hearing that AI is handling most of the content moderation, but let's be real who are they relying on if not humans? 
I don't think this lawsuit will stick though - TikTok always seems to find a way out of these things 
. And now they're claiming it was all about adopting AI for moderation? Save it, TikTok! 
. I guess what's even crazier is that these content moderators were literally risking their mental health for the sake of social media. Like, can't we just have a virtual detox for once? 
But seriously, I feel for these guys who are fighting for better working conditions and more support. It's like, TikTok needs to step up its game (and provide some trauma counseling) 
! I mean, can you blame them? Processing all that traumatic content for hours on end without proper support or resources is just not right 
. The fact that 91% of transgressive content is now being removed by AI is like, yay 
... but what about the human moderators who are still stuck with the emotional toll of their job? It's like corporate greed is prioritizing profits over people's well-being 
.
. They're already dealing with some pretty traumatic stuff on a daily basis, and now TikTok is trying to pass off its restructuring as a way to "adopt AI" 
. It just feels like they want to cut costs without thinking about the impact on people's mental health. I mean, 91% of transgressive content getting automatically removed by AI doesn't sound like a human-centered solution at all 
. I hope this lawsuit gets them the justice they deserve 
The fact that they're blaming the layoffs on "restructuring" but it's really just union-busting is just, like, so obvious 
And what's with AI being used as an excuse to cut corners? It's not even doing a good job, apparently 
I'm still trying to wrap my head around this stuff... The idea that these moderators have to deal with all that traumatic content is mental 
Anyway, can someone explain this lawsuit thingy to me? Is it like, a normal thing that happens when companies mess with workers rights? 
tiktok's actions are literally putting people's lives at risk by pushing content moderators to handle traumatic stuff without any support! i mean, 91% of transgressive content is being removed automatically by ai - what about the remaining 9%?! do we really want humans deciding whether or not to remove that kind of content?! it just don't sit right with me. and now these former mods are fighting for their rights in court, it's like they're saying "hey, we know our job is hard, but at least give us some basic protections so we can do it without losing our minds!" 
. If we can't support our own workers, who will? 
those poor content moderators have to deal with all that traumatic stuff and then tiktok just fires them without any support or consideration 
tikk to step up its game and prioritize worker safety 
.
. It's time for TikTok (and other companies) to take responsibility for treating their employees with dignity and respect 
I mean, who wants to be judged by an algorithm that's only good at recognizing things that are obviously wrong? 
It's not right, and I hope those former moderators get some justice in their lawsuit 
. I mean, TikTok's got some explaining to do - 91% of transgressive content is being auto-removed? That doesn't sound like a safe or fair way to go about it, especially when they know how traumatic it can be for humans 
. It's all about corporate greed vs worker safety and public rights, imo