TikTok Moderators launch legal action over union busting

Following TikTok’s heavily criticised move to sack over 400 workers from its London office in October 2025, a legal challenge has been issued on behalf of three of the moderators against TikTok, alleging unlawful detriment for engaging in trade union activities as well as an automatic unfair dismissal on this count.

They have highlighted that Tiktok announced the redundancies a mere 7 days before workers were due to vote on union recognition with the CWU. The union had been poised to ballot several hundred of TikTok’s moderators and quality assurance agents from the trust and safety team, whose job it was to vet posts for compliance with TikTok’s rules – including traumatic posts processed at high speed. TikTok announced a restructuring exercise that put members of the proposed bargaining unit at risk of redundancy, according to the legal claim. Once the redundancies were announced in August 2025, the ballot was immediately suspended, and the workers made redundant by Christmas.

The workers accuse the social media company of ‘oppressive and intimidating’ union busting, to which TikTok has responded by calling the accusations coincidental and baseless. They argue that the redundancies came as changes were being implemented as part of a wider global ‘reorganisation’ to incorporate ‘the benefit of technological advancements to continue maximising safety’ for its users.

Rosa Curling, co-executive director of Foxglove (a tech justice non-profit), argues that by “laying off essential safety workers they are putting the platform’s users at risk.” The organisation has called TikTok’s approach “appalling.”

Michael Newman, a partner at Leigh Day, who are supporting the workers in their case, framed it more broadly:

“This case is an important example of how individuals who band together can stand up to the might of big tech firms.”