Siddhartha Laik in DigitalNews On 27 Jan,2021 10:56:28

Confirmed: Massive layoffs in Bytedance India

Massive job loss at Bytedance India

IWMBuzz earlier reported about the fate of Bytedance employees hanging in balance with the Government of India sending a permanent ban notice.

For the uninitiated, the Indian government had earlier announced an interim ban on multiple Chinese apps including TikTok over security concerns. The step was also announced amid rising border tensions between India and China, which is not showing any immediate sign of rapprochement.

When the interim ban was on, there was a silver lining of the operations resuming post deliberation and implementation of necessary changes. However, with the permanent ban notice, hope turned bleak.

As reported earlier by us, though banned, Bytedance India employees continued to stay on its payroll and worked in diverse roles, as per sources.

But, the latest development, as confirmed by our credible sources, is that Bytedance India has officially announced massive layoffs.

We hear that a mail was sent by Vanessa (currently interim Head of TikTok globally) stating that the organisation is forced to reduce the size of the team and will only be retaining a small number of critical roles in India.

Bytedance owns apps like TikTok, Helo among others.

We reached out to Bytedance for an official comment but did not receive any till the time of going to press.

Keep reading IWMBuzz.com.

Updated: Later we received an official comment from Bytedance.

We have worked steadfastly to comply with the Government of India order issued on June 29, 2020. We continually strive to make our apps comply with local laws and regulations and do our best to address any concerns they have. It is therefore disappointing that in the ensuing seven months, despite our efforts we have not been given a clear direction on how and when our apps could be reinstated. It is deeply regretful that after supporting our 2000+ employees in India for more than half a year, we have no choice but to scale back the size of our workforce. We look forward to receiving the opportunity to relaunch TikTok and support the hundreds of millions of users, artists, story-tellers, educators and performers in India.

HeloTikTok

About The Author

Siddhartha Laik: With over 10 years of experience in media and entertainment, Siddhartha believes in the importance of attitude over aptitude. With Masters in English Literature from Fergusson College, Pune (First Class) and a Diploma in Journalism, he has immense knowledge in diverse fields of editorial, content creation, effective communication, team building, leadership, motivational speaking, personality development, success principles, digital, print and broadcast media, soft skills et al. “In today’s time it is all about multi-tasking. An individual has immense potential to break notions and conventions and explore unchartered territories. All one needs to do is work hard on self development and BELIEVE”-Siddhartha After being part of editorial teams in organizations like Times of India, Mid Day, Magna Publication, Indian Express, Sakaal Times, Indiantelevision.com Pvt Ltd Group, in capacity ranging from a reporter to Managing Editor & Head of Business, Siddhartha is the Founder & Editor-in-chief at IWMBuzz (earlier known as IndianWikiMedia). His role includes heading editorial, building and motivating teamforce, crisis management, business strategy and launching new properties. A communicator par excellence, a motivator, a leader, an innovator, a risk taker, Siddhartha was awarded the Best Student in his journalism course and has also featured on India TV as a commentator, Bigg Boss as a news seeker, and is a visiting faculty in multiple media institutions. His hobbies include playing a guitar, reading and writing fiction literature, debating and discussing on current affairs and watching superhero movies.