Tikok employee ready for strike: protest against dismissals!

Tikok employee ready for strike: protest against dismissals!

On July 17, 2025, passionate protests took place in Berlin in Berlin. The approximately 60 employees and supporters: inside who took part in the rally were found under the motto "We trained your machines - pay us what we deserve!" together. The reason for the uprising are the currently planned layoffs, which affect around 150 employees: inside of the Trust and Safety department and around 15 employees in the field of TikTok-Live, such as cityreport.pnr24-online.de reported.

Behind the impending dismissals is the strategy of the company to increasingly outsource content moderation through artificial intelligence (AI) and third-party providers. This decision not only ensures great uncertainty among employees, but also questions the already tense working conditions in the industry. According to ver.di, the working conditions for content moderators are particularly stressful for third-party providers, since they are often faced with traumatizing content, which can lead to serious health risks.

criticism of AI and working conditions

The union also criticizes that the use of algorithms often leads to dangerous wrong decisions in moderation. An example is an algorithm that incorrectly marked contributions with rainbow flags as "controversial". Such incidents show how much understanding of social contexts at AI is missing and what effects this has on the work of content moderators. The loyalty between Tikkok and his creator: inside could suffer from the changes, since the reduction of the live operating team that maintains direct contact could also have a negative impact on reach and monetization, such as ver.di indicates.

The health risks for the moderators are alarming. Higher rates on depression, post -traumatic stress disorders and thoughts of suicide are not uncommon among employees. The work environment is further burdened by unrealistic performance goals and the uncertainty of temporary contracts. The union is committed to an extension of the notice period for one year and severance payments in the amount of three annual salaries, but Tikkok has so far been adamant and has rejected negotiations with ver.di.

international cooperation between the unions

In a larger scale, a global struggle against precarization in content moderation is shown. In April the first global trade union alliance of content moderator was launched in April: supported by the Uni Global Union . This alliance aims to create existential wages, secure working conditions and a strong union GAP. Differences in working conditions, also for companies such as Alphabet and Meta, are balanced worldwide, since the moderation is often outsourced to subcontractors with precarious conditions.

The situation at Tikkok is the beginning of an important struggle for the rights of employees in an industry that is characterized by enormous economic interests. Kathlen Eggerling, the negotiator of ver.di, has made it clear that the employees are willing to defend themselves against the blockade keeping of management and that the strike potential is already high. It remains to be seen how the situation will develop and whether Tiktok will finally respond to the legitimate claims of the employees.