Warning: This article contains discussion of domestic violence, sexual assault and self-harm which some readers may find distressing.
A TikTok employee has sued the company after revealing the staff are 'monitored by AI all day long'.
While micromanaging became something of a business buzzword in recent years, remote work seemed to enlarge the issue. Some home workers reported that their bosses demanded constant status updates, mandatory 'camera-on' policies, or even keyboard-tracking software, which led some workers to lose their jobs.
With artificial intelligence set to replace thousands of jobs over the coming years, workers have been advised by experts to either upskill or pivot toward careers more AI-immune.
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But now it appears some employees aren't waiting to be replaced by AI, they're walking away because they're being heavily surveilled by it.
Former TikTok worker Lynda Ouazar has shared her experience of bullying, harassment, and union suppression while working at one of the world's largest social media platforms.
Ouazar started at the video creation giant as a moderator before moving to a quality control role where she reviewed the work of external agency moderators.
However, she soon found herself reassigned to handle some of the most disturbing content uploaded to one of the world's most popular apps.
"You don't want to see children being sexually assaulted, you don't want to see women going through all kinds of abuse, you don't want to see people self-harming, [...] using slur words all day long," the former TikTok employee told Sky News. "It affected me."
Ouazar said there was minimal support to protect moderators' wellbeing which took a toll on her mental health.
"I was finding it really hard to sleep at night, having flashbacks, feeling tired, losing my motivation," she explained.
Instead, she and her colleagues felt pressured to work faster, causing more 'errors,' which means 'things that should not be in the platform are actually still there.'
"You are monitored by AI all day long," Ouazar admitted. "Moderators find themselves pressurised to deliver, so they have to carry on, even if you see something which really affects you and you feel like you have tears in your eyes."
She added: "Sometimes you cry, but then you carry on working because you have to reach those targets. Otherwise, your bonus will be affected, your job security, your salary, everything will be affected.
"It's not good for the moderators, it is not good for the users of the platform."
After working at TikTok for two years, Ouazar joined the United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW) union as a representative. She argues that she faced exclusion and workplace bullying, while her performance reviews plummeted from top marks to the lowest rating without a clear explanation, despite raising a formal grievance.
"Other employees who [previously] had no problems at all, which I helped recruit to become union members, also started going through the same pattern as myself," she continued.
Speaking to Sky News, TikTok 'strongly rejected' the allegations, saying: "We have made ongoing enhancements to our safety technologies and content moderation, which are borne out by the facts: a record rate of violative content removed by automated technology (91%) and record volume of violative content removed in under 24 hours (95%)."
After the social media giant rolled out a restructuring of its moderation process, Ouazar's team was told their jobs were at risk. Out of the 24 people at risk of redundancy, 11 lost their jobs, the report found.
Ouazar is now reportedly seeking legal action against TikTok, along with three of her former colleagues.
UniladTech have reached out to TikTok for comment.
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org