TikTok is the latest tech company to mount another round of layoffs in an increasingly bleak January. According to NPR, which broke the news, TikTok cut about 60 jobs, mostly in sales and advertising.
TikTok did not respond to our request for comment before publication.
Despite controversy in Congress over its Chinese parent company, TikTok — which is headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore — remains the No. 1 app on the iOS App Store’s entertainment charts, and No. 5 among all free apps, beating out competitors like Instagram and Snapchat.
TikTok continues to grow, but according to data from SensorTower, its growth is decelerating. In 2022, TikTok’s monthly active users grew an average of 12% year-over-year per quarter; in 2023, that figure dropped to 3%. While TikTok says the job cuts are just a result of reorganization, the app could be having some growing pains as it figures out how to integrate TikTok Shop, which officially launched in the U.S. in September. Since then, TikTok users have complained that their For You page is overrun with videos from creators seeking to make affiliate commissions by promoting products from TikTok Shop.
Across social platforms and other consumer tech products, layoffs have been rampant so far this year. Amazon has made cuts across Twitch, Audible, Prime Video and MGM Studio. Google has laid off over 1,000 employees in hardware and advertising sales, plus another hundred employees at YouTube. Other popular apps like Duolingo and Discord have also made cuts.
Last year, the first quarter of the year was most saturated with tech layoffs; so far in 2024, companies seem to be continuing their plans to cut costs at the start of the new calendar year.