Chinese app TikTok begins laying off people amid restructuring

New Delhi, July 19

Chinese short-video making app TikTok has started sacking employees worldwide as part of "a much larger re-organisation effort".

Owned by ByteDance and banned in India for last two years, TikTok has created a significant user base, crossing 1 billion monthly active users with thousands of employees worldwide.

Some employees based in Europe were informed on Monday that their jobs were at risk, reports Wired.

Senior TikTok employee David Ortiz, a Snap veteran, announced on LinkedIn that he was leaving the company because his role was being eliminated as part of "a much larger re-organization effort".

"I found out today that my role is being eliminated in a much larger re-organization effort," he posted.

"I was the very first hire outside of China, in my product and engineering org, tasked to build the entire international product management team from scratch and spearhead the development of engineering offices in San Francisco and Singapore," he added.

According to the report, some UK employees were warned that job losses will occur in a number of departments within TikTok.

"When US-based employees began work hours later, some were informed their roles were being eliminated," the report mentioned.

The layoffs at TikTok come as the company is facing larger scrutiny over alleged sharing of US users' data with the Chinese government, which the company has denied.

The restructuring includes layoffs and the closing of some vacant roles and affects TikTok's businesses in the US, the EU, and the UK.