TikTok lays off 250 employees, closes its Nashville office

TikTok is laying off 250 employees and closing its Nashville office, which housed some members of the company’s content-moderation team. The news was first reported by The New York Times.

Zanna Crowley, a spokesperson for the TikTok USDS Joint Venture, confirmed the layoffs and closure, saying the move was meant to “streamline our operations and better align our teams for long-term growth.”

“We remain fully committed to providing secure, safe and positive experiences for the 200 million Americans that create, discover and connect with what they love on TikTok,” the spokesperson said.

The cuts come as social media companies increasingly rely on AI to monitor and remove violent or explicit content on their platforms.

TikTok leased the Nashville office in 2024. It will close on October 5.

Why it matters

Cutting a content-moderation office even as TikTok reaffirms its safety commitments underscores how platforms are betting more heavily on AI systems to police content at scale, with fewer people directly overseeing that work.