Marvin OnumonuTikTok is facing legal action after telling its London trust and safety team they would be made redundant just days before a union vote, according to Foxglove, a tech justice non-profit.
The team is responsible for taking down dangerous and illegal content from the platform.
Workers were told on 22nd August 2025 that their jobs would be cut, only a week before they were set to vote on forming a union with the United Tech & Allied Workers, a branch of the Communication Workers Union (CWU).
The company said it was restructuring and would stop all content moderation work in London, thereby potentially putting hundreds of jobs at risk.
Two moderators, backed by Foxglove and the union, have now sent a legal letter to TikTok.
They are represented by law firm Leigh Day and are claiming unlawful detriment and automatic unfair dismissal.
TikTok has been given a month to respond.
This move comes after TikTok announced it would grow its UK workforce to 3,000 and add more than 500 jobs.
Company documents from May showed plans to keep human content moderation in London until at least the end of 2025.
The legal letter from the moderators seeks a declaration that the job cuts and any dismissals are unlawful.
They are also asking the employment tribunal to order their reinstatement and compensation for lost pay.
Julio Miguel Franco, a content moderator, said: “TikTok needs to tell the truth. When it says AI can do our job of keeping people safe on TikTok, it knows that’s rubbish.
“Instead, they want to steal our jobs and send them to other countries where they can pay people less and treat them worse.
“The end result is TikTok becomes less safe for everyone.”
He added: “For content moderators like us, the number one priority will always be keeping people safe on TikTok.
“Having a union at TikTok makes the trust and safety team safer at work, which makes everyone who uses TikTok safer too. That’s why we’re fighting for it.”
Stella Caram, head of legal at Foxglove, said: “TikTok’s unlawful plans to sack its entire UK safety workforce show just how little it cares about the wellbeing of its most vulnerable users – including millions of children – and the people trying to keep them safe online.
“In June, TikTok said it was going to hire hundreds more content moderators, then two months later, they fired everyone.
“What changed? Workers exercised their legal right to try to form a trade union. This is obvious, blatant and unlawful union-busting.”
Caram added: “Foxglove is proud to be supporting these essential safe workers in fighting back against TikTok’s unlawful, anti-safety and anti-worker mass firing.
“Unless these jobs are restored, we are prepared to see them in the employment tribunal.”
John Chadfield, national officer for tech workers at the union, said: “At the start of the summer TikTok were putting out press releases about growing headcount in the UK, their biggest European market, and by August – in an effort to squash unionisation – they’ve practically shuttered and outsourced almost the entire trust and safety team in London.
“Jeopardising public safety to union bust is reckless, and attacking workers’ rights in such a flagrant way cannot be ignored.”
Michael Newman, partner at Leigh Day, said: “TikTok’s safety workers play a valuable role in keeping the internet free from toxic content, and this claim raises important issues about those workers’ ability to have a union keep fighting for safe working conditions on their behalf.”
Workplace Journal has reached out to TikTok for comment
