TikTok lays off hundreds of employees, while Instagram holds its moderators accountable.

ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, has laid off hundreds of content moderators worldwide, transitioning to an AI-based moderation system. It is estimated that around 500 employees, mostly in Malaysia, have lost their jobs due to this restructuring. Despite these cuts, ByteDance still has over 110,000 workers globally. In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson explained that these decisions are part of their ongoing efforts to strengthen their global operational model in content moderation. Currently, a combination of human moderators and AI systems is used, with the latter responsible for about 80% of the workload. The company plans to invest around $2 billion in its trust and safety efforts by 2024.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, commented on recent issues experienced by users on Instagram and Threads, such as account bans and reduced visibility of posts. According to Mosseri, these inconveniences were due to mistakes made by human moderators, who acted without the necessary context for the decisions made. However, Mosseri clarified that the blame does not solely lie with humans, as a failure in a tool prevented moderators from having the proper information. In recent days, several users on both platforms found their accounts blocked for alleged violations of age restrictions, which prohibit accounts for users under 13 years old, even after they provided age verification.

Additionally, the reliability of TikTok as a news search engine has been questioned. A recent study revealed that nearly 20% of search results related to current events on TikTok contained misinformation. On the other hand, TikTok has been forced to deny claims about a supposed hack. A group of hackers called AgainstTheWest claimed to have accessed data from TikTok and WeChat, although the company has continued to refute such allegations.

Finally, TikTok is exploring the possibility of adding a third feed to its platform. Social media consultant Matt Navarra has shared information about this new feature, which would allow creators to include location tags in their videos. A recent image of this new feed, which would be called "Nearby," has been shown, complementing the already existing "Following" and "For You" feeds.