- TikTok compelled its London office staff to quit by creating a hostile working culture, Financial Times reports.
- TikTok created what staff described as a "kill list" of colleagues in the e-commerce department whom it wanted to fire or end the contracts.
- Some of the targeted employees had only been in the positions for a couple of weeks.
- TikTok reportedly assigned the staff named on the so-called "kill list" to untrained roles.
- TikTok denied the story, highlighting its positive and supportive working environment.
- ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo expressed his plans to "dramatically downsize" hiring plans for the year while slowing organizational growth and increasing efficiency.
- TikTok is amid a global restructuring process, hiring and firing employees in the U.K. and Europe.
- TikTok ignored complaints about the treatment of London workers, and several employees took mental health leave due to the work environment.
- TikTok reportedly suffered a mass staff exodus from the e-commerce team in London for alleged aggressive working culture. TikTok Shop Europe replaced Joshua Ma for not allowing maternity leaves. Ma is still at the company in a new undisclosed role.
- Meanwhile, TikTok hired 5,000 positions globally, in the U.K., Ireland, Europe, and the U.S.
- TikTok downsized its headcount in Beijing while expanding in the U.S. to separate TikTok from its Chinese parent under increasing pressure from the U.S. government over national security concerns.
- Photo by olivier-bergeron via unsplash
