I just read about TikTok staff in Germany going on strike because they are worried about losing their jobs to AI technology. This seems to be happening more often these days in different companies. I am curious about what people think about this situation. Are these workers right to be concerned about AI taking over their roles? How common is this type of protest in the tech industry? I wonder if other social media companies are facing similar issues with their employees. Has anyone else heard about workers in other countries having the same problems with AI replacing them? What do you think companies should do to handle these concerns from their staff?
totally agree! it’s sad to see ppl worried about their jobs. companies shud invest in retraining rather than just cutting jobs. union power in Germany is strong, so hopefully they’ll get good support. it’s def a growing issue in the industry.
The German workers are right to worry. I’ve seen this exact thing happen at multiple companies - it always starts the same way.
But instead of waiting for management to make the call, workers could build their own automation. Most people don’t realize how simple it is now to create workflows that actually make your job easier.
Last year I helped my team automate all our repetitive data collection and reporting. Nobody got fired. We freed up 20 hours a week to focus on real problem solving.
Smart move? Automate your boring tasks before management does it for you. You control the process and become the person who knows how everything works.
Content moderation is perfect for this. Set up automated workflows for the obvious stuff - spam, duplicate reports, basic compliance checks. Let humans handle edge cases and policy decisions that actually matter.
These TikTok workers should skip the protests and build automation that makes them more valuable. When you’re the person who designed and maintains the workflow, you become essential.
Check out https://latenode.com for building these solutions without needing coding skills.
The protests make sense from a human perspective, but honestly, fighting automation is like trying to stop the tide. Companies will always choose efficiency over sentiment.
What really bothers me is how poorly managed these transitions usually are. Instead of replacing people overnight, smart companies automate the boring, repetitive stuff first. This frees up humans for creative work that actually needs human judgment.
I’ve seen this at multiple companies. The ones that survive use automation strategically, not as a sledgehammer. You can automate mundane content moderation, data processing, and basic customer service without touching jobs that need real human insight.
The key is building workflows that handle routine stuff automatically while keeping humans in the loop for complex decisions. You’re enhancing human capability instead of replacing it.
TikTok could easily automate basic content flagging, user data organization, and routine compliance checks. Then staff could focus on policy decisions, creative content strategy, and edge cases that need human judgment.
If you want to see how intelligent automation works in practice, check out https://latenode.com.
Not surprising at all. I’ve watched three major automation waves hit my company over the last decade.
Most protests happen way too late. Workers strike after management’s already decided and budgeted for AI tools. You need to get ahead of this stuff.
Here’s what I learned: people who adapt fastest start using AI tools themselves. Don’t fight the tech - learn to work with it.
We had content moderators freaking out when automated flagging rolled out. The ones who learned to train and tune those systems? They became our AI specialists and make more money now.
The German TikTok mess sounds like terrible leadership communication. Spring AI on people without warning or retraining and they’ll panic every time.
Smart companies run pilots first. Show workers how AI handles boring stuff while humans do strategy and complex decisions. Most executives just see dollar signs and ram it through without considering the human impact.
Other countries? Yeah, this is everywhere. Meta, YouTube, Twitter all getting the same pushback. It’ll get worse before it gets better.
This is happening everywhere in tech, not just TikTok. I work in content moderation and I’m watching AI slowly take over stuff that humans used to handle. The German workers aren’t wrong - AI can now do basic content review, customer service, and even some creative work pretty well. Tech companies are constantly pressured to cut costs while growing fast, so this was inevitable. The protests won’t stop AI development, but they might push companies to actually explain their transition plans instead of keeping workers in the dark. I’ve seen the best outcomes when companies retrain people to work with AI instead of pretending they can compete against it. Companies that just ignore this stuff usually end up with people quitting and bad PR later.
I’ve done content moderation for years, so I understand the concerns of these German TikTok workers. AI is increasingly taking over basic filtering jobs that require human judgment. Companies often tout this shift as ‘efficiency,’ but they overlook its impact on their workforce. While AI can process large volumes of data rapidly, it lacks the ability to grasp context and cultural nuances that humans naturally understand. These protests are becoming common as workers feel undervalued; companies seem more focused on cheap automation than on leveraging human expertise. It’s crucial for TikTok and similar firms to be transparent about their AI strategies and consider retraining opportunities instead of sidelining employees. The tech industry must do better in managing this transition, especially for roles that fundamentally rely on human insight.