KUALA LUMPUR – TikTok’s latest round of job cuts at its European headquarters in Dublin echoes the restructuring it undertook in Malaysia in 2024, where hundreds of content moderator roles were axed as the ByteDance-owned platform increasingly replaced manual moderation with artificial intelligence.
The company is set to eliminate around 300 positions at its European hub in Dublin as part of a broader global reorganisation aimed at strengthening AI-driven operations and streamlining its trust and safety functions.
According to Bloomberg News, citing an internal email to employees on Wednesday, the restructuring will mainly affect AI data services and operations teams, with some quality assurance functions expected to be consolidated into other regional hubs.
TikTok has also confirmed a separate round of layoffs in Indonesia, although it did not disclose the number of employees affected.
A TikTok spokesperson said the company is reviewing its organisational structure to strengthen its global operating model, adding that some employees whose roles are at risk will be offered alternative positions within the company.
“We are exploring a reorganisation to strengthen our global operating model for trust and safety, including proposals to evolve the way we work to ensure teams remain scalable and agile,” the spokesperson said.
While the restructuring is expected to create new positions, it will still result in a net reduction of around 300 jobs in Dublin.
The latest move comes less than a year after TikTok announced plans to cut nearly 300 roles at its Dublin office, representing about 10 per cent of its workforce there. The Irish capital serves as TikTok’s European hub for trust and safety, overseeing content moderation and data protection across the region.
The restructuring closely mirrors measures implemented in Malaysia in October 2024, when ByteDance laid off hundreds of employees, the majority of whom worked in content moderation.
Although early reports suggested more than 700 employees had been retrenched, TikTok later clarified that fewer than 500 positions were eliminated as part of a wider global restructuring.
At the time, the company said the move reflected its growing reliance on AI to moderate content. Automated systems were already detecting and removing about 80 per cent of content found to have breached TikTok’s community guidelines, significantly reducing the need for manual moderation.
TikTok also reaffirmed its commitment to invest US$2 billion annually in trust and safety initiatives, including AI-powered moderation tools.
The latest cuts reflect a broader trend across the global technology sector, where companies are trimming workforces while increasing investments in artificial intelligence, automation and digital infrastructure.
Dublin, home to the European operations of several major technology companies including Meta and Amazon, has seen repeated rounds of layoffs in recent years as firms redirect spending towards AI-focused initiatives.
Meta also announced another round of job cuts in Ireland earlier this year, affecting around 20 per cent of its local workforce, according to Bloomberg News.
The pace of layoffs across the technology industry has remained elevated throughout 2026. According to employment tracker TrueUp, 423 rounds of layoffs have affected 158,249 workers globally so far this year as technology companies continue streamlining operations while expanding their AI capabilities. – July 2, 2026