Several employees on the TikTok African team were laid off in June 2024 after the social media giant announced planned global layoffs. Before employees were told about the scheduled layoffs in May, the ByteDance-owned company cut a few roles on the African team in March, one person with knowledge of the matter said.

June’s layoffs cut deeper, affecting employees in content operations, marketing, and trust and safety teams, the same person said, claiming more layoffs are expected in the third quarter of 2024.

The exact number of job cuts could not be determined, but over half the African team based in South Africa and Nigeria were affected, according to two persons who worked on those teams. One person said the African team had at least 100 people. 

TikTok declined to comment on any part of this story. 

While several publications linked the layoffs to the company’s regulatory troubles in the United States—President Joe Biden signed a law demanding that China-based ByteDance sell TikTok within nine months or be banned across the US—one person familiar with the company rejected that framing. 

“The changes are not a reaction to anything,” said an executive who asked not to be named as they were not authorised to speak on the matter. “It is a function of assessing the business on an ongoing basis and making necessary changes.” 

 According to The Information, this is TikTok’s most significant layoff. The same publication said it typically prefers smaller reorganisations across teams. TikTok isn’t alone in these sweeping changes. Meta and Microsoft have also reduced the size of their African teams, although they insist they continue to invest in Africa.