Various technology companies are seen optimizing their operations from month to month, and are increasingly reducing their workforce day by day. Most recently, ByteDance, which operates TikTok, is seen cutting a number of its employees in the Southeast Asia region.
According to observations and reports, the affected employees are from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The full number of employees affected is not known at this time.
In addition to the Southeast Asia region, ByteDance is also reportedly considering cutting hundreds of employees based in Europe.
Previously, several companies have begun to reduce their workforce by starting to use artificial intelligence to replace a number of operations. It is not known whether the layoffs carried out since July 1, 2026 by ByteDance are due to this, or due to optimizing their workforce again, or due to other reasons.
