The Irish government has been informed that TikTok’s Dublin office will be reducing its workforce by 10%, approximately 300 people. Authorities have stated that they will fully support the affected Irish employees.
Irish Minister for Employment, Peter Burke, confirmed on March 5th that the government had received a “notice” from TikTok the previous day, revealing that the layoffs will commence in April.
Burke did not disclose the exact number of layoffs. Local media reports suggest that 10% of TikTok’s Irish employees will face unemployment. The company employs around 3,000 people in Ireland, with most of the staff working in offices in central Dublin.
Burke stated that the government will provide full support to the affected employees, assisting them in finding new jobs, including sharing the affected employees’ resumes with potential recruiting companies, such as multinational corporations registered with the Investment and Development Agency and local businesses.
TikTok’s Irish office has faced rumors of layoffs in recent years. Last summer, the company indicated that as part of restructuring its “monetization integrity team,” some employees might be laid off or transferred to other departments.
Since entering the Irish market in 2018, TikTok has rapidly gained the attention of young people. According to a press release issued by TikTok in October 2023, the platform has over 2 million monthly active users in Ireland, equivalent to nearly one-third of the country’s population.
Due to the EU’s stringent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the popular social media platform has been under regulatory pressure, especially concerning the protection of underage user data. In September 2023, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), after a two-year investigation, found that TikTok abused children’s information and imposed a hefty fine of €345 million. TikTok is currently appealing this decision.
In contrast to other multinational tech companies, regulators and activists are concerned that TikTok may transfer local users’ data back to its parent company, ByteDance, located in mainland China. With laws such as the “Intelligence Law” and “National Security Law,” which allow authorities to demand user activity records if deemed related to “national security,” there are worries about user data falling into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.
Without third-party complaints, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner initiated an investigation in September 2021 to determine if TikTok violated GDPR by transferring user data from the EU back to mainland China. On February 24th this year, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner announced that a draft decision had been submitted to other EU data protection authorities for advice and comments. According to media reports, TikTok is expected to face a new fine in the coming weeks.
Due to concerns about user data potentially reaching the Chinese government, the Irish National Cyber Security Center updated its security guidelines in April 2023, advising government departments not to use TikTok on official devices unless for specific work needs.