Amid regulatory and tariff pressures, ByteDance has started trimming TikTok Shop in the US.
The company is executing its third layoff in three months. Speaking with Bloomberg, a TikTok representative stated, “As the TikTok Shop business evolves, we regularly review our operations to ensure long-term success.” The exec added, “We’ve made the difficult decision to adjust parts of our team to better align with strategic priorities.”
While the actual number of impacted workers at TikTok in the US is not officially known, reportedly the company has been replacing the US-hired staff with Chinese managers.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the US President, continues to delay the deadline for the sell-off of ByteDance to American entities in order for the Chinese company to continue business in the country.
One of the former employees took to TeamBlind and shared their ordeal. The anonymous poster remarked,
I’m impacted by the latest Bytedance/TikTok layoff.”
They added,
I worked my ass off, staying up late for late-night meetings, delivering on always random critical shit projects that don’t make sense. Then they sent me a ChatGPT email.”
The user further continued,
What I want to know is, what’s the next process? Will they literally reach out to everyone that’s laid off to talk about the next step via personal email?”
The former TikTok employee wondered
Can we negotiate on severance? I know so much about toxic culture problems that the Congress and other public would love to hear about discriminations, disgusting bathroom usage, and how incompetently they still deal with personally identifiable information of American citizens.”
Meanwhile, other ByteDance staffers stated that the company is offering two months of severance.