TikTok reportedly slashed its global trust and safety team as part of a restructuring – even as the China-owned company fights to stay online in the US.
Adam Presser, who leads TikTok’s operations & trust and safety division, informed staffers of the shakeup in a memo on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The layoffs have already begun for employees based in Europe, the Middle and Africa.
It’s unclear how many employees in the US will be part of the overall cuts.
The company has said it has “more than 40,000 trust and safety professionals around the world.”.
TikTok did not immediately return a request for comment on the restructuring.
TikTok and its CEO Shou Zi Chew repeatedly touted the role of its trust and safety team in their unsuccessful effort to convince Congress that the app was not a national security threat.
During a high-profile Senate hearing in January of last year, Chew claimed that the closely-held company would spend more than $2 billion on its efforts to safeguard its US users.
The future of TikTok, which has more than 170 million American users, remains in limbo.
Congress passed a law last year requiring TikTok’s China-based parent ByteDance to divest its stake in the app or face a total US ban due to national security concerns.
The app briefly shut down in January after ByteDance missed the deadline, but was given a reprieve after President Trump issued an executive order delaying enforcement of the law by 75 days while he worked to find an American buyer.
After briefly stopping downloads of TikTok, Apple and Google restored access in their app stores after US Attorney General Pam Bondi provided assurances that they would not face penalties.
Trump’s order expires on April – though the president has floated the possibility of somehow extending the deadline.
