On Wednesday, August 28, according to Bloomberg, a content moderator at TikTok, a company owned by the Chinese tech firm ByteDance, is suing the company in the UK. The employee alleges that TikTok engages in discrimination against individuals with disabilities, and the toxic work environment led to her experiencing pregnancy complications due to excessive stress.
Olivia Anton Altamirano worked on TikTok’s “Badness Project,” which aims to remove harmful content from the platform. In court documents, she claims that TikTok required her to meet “unattainable” work goals and discriminated against her due to her multiple sclerosis condition.
She stated, “I felt offended, harassed, and belittled in the harmful work environment.” The pressure caused her to experience anxiety, depression, and pregnancy complications. She is urging the London Employment Tribunal to order TikTok to compensate her for the emotional distress and health insurance losses she suffered.
TikTok has denied all accusations but failed to dismiss all claims in the case. The judge allowed the case to proceed to the next stage. Following a hearing, Judge Mark Emery on Wednesday stated, “This is not to say this claim has a good prospect of success, but I cannot say that it lacks a reasonable prospect of success.”
TikTok’s lawyer stated that Altamirano continues to work at TikTok, and the company did not set unrealistic goals for her.
This is not the first time TikTok’s London employees have accused the company of fostering a toxic corporate culture. According to the Financial Times in June 2022, cultural clashes between TikTok’s Chinese management team and London employees led to a wave of resignations. At that time, at least 20 employees of the TikTok Shop team in London (about half of the total staff) left the company, with the remaining employees also expressing intention to resign.
These employees criticized TikTok’s toxic work environment as being at odds with the working practices in the UK. They mentioned having to start the workweek on Sunday afternoon to attend online meetings with Beijing and participating in late-night phone calls with China, resulting in workdays often exceeding 12 hours.
A former head of the London team said, “The culture there is truly toxic. Relationships are built on fear rather than cooperation. They don’t care about burnout because it’s a big company – they can simply replace you.”
An employee mentioned that those who failed to meet work targets or respond promptly outside working hours were internally criticized, creating a cutthroat corporate culture that left them feeling overwhelmed.