« If I had known that working at TikTok would cost me so much, I would never have taken the job. » Melody Chu, former of Facebook, Roblox and Nextdoor, describes her experience within the American branch of the Chinese social network in a post on Medium. Weight loss, disturbed sleep, threatened marital life and troubled mental health: the employee evokes a hellish rhythm. According to a survey by wall street journal published on May 6, the case of Melody Chu is far from isolated, and the malaise is felt within the American branch of TikTok, creating tensions. According to Lucas Ou-Yang, a former employee of the company quoted by the newspaper, ten product managers would have resigned about a year after taking office within the social network. With its billion users, TikTok announced in 2021 that it wanted to increase from 1,500 to 10,000 employees.
The company describes itself as a place of « joyful, entertaining and unexpected experiences ». But, with up to 85 hours of meetings per week according to some former employees, the reality within the walls of the company seems to be quite different. Most of the former employees cited by the wall street journal have worked for other tech giants, without considering that they have been subjected to such a degree of stress. The company defends itself. In a reaction transmitted to the Wall Street Journal, she explains, « We are committed to building an equitable platform and business that empowers our community and our employees to thrive. »
« Aim for the High »
Nevertheless, it is the corporate culture of TikTok that is pointed out. « Aim for the highest », « Be strong and courageous », « Be open and humble »… Slogans addressed to employees contribute to widespread stress. They are nicknamed the « Byte Styles ». Employee evaluations would depend on compliance with these awards. However, these evaluations give access to advantages, such as the possibility of transforming its bonuses into free allocations of shares. Hence the employees’ desire to always go further, even if it means mixing private and professional life. On YouTube, Chloe Shih, a former employee, explains that she « developed a sleep disorder from working so late at night ».
Several teams can also compete by working on the same project at the same time. The objective pursued is always the same, namely to encourage employees to be even more productive. American employees also have to adapt to meetings that are often modeled on China’s time zones. More generally, according to the newspaper, the Chinese culture of the company permeates the practices of TikTok, including in the United States, with extended hours, and extreme competition.
A culture of secrecy
The investigation of wall street journal also points to the culture of secrecy within TikTok. The company does not offer an organization chart to its employees. The implicit objective would be, according to the newspaper, to dissuade competitors from recruiting some of their employees. Similarly, Pabel Martinez, former director of advertising accounts, explains to the newspaper that figures were regularly blurred in presentations that circulated within TikTok. An opacity that the former employee analyzes as a lack of confidence on the part of his employers.
TikTok, according to the wall street journal, should reach revenues of 12 billion dollars, after only six years of existence. Opposite, Facebook took ten years to obtain such impressive figures. In France, the social network, if it is powerful, remains largely behind its rival Snapchat. Among 15-49 year olds, TikTok has 5.7 million daily users according to Médiamétrie, against 12.9 million for Snapchat. On the TikTok site, 22 job offers are available in Paris.
The Labello challengethe other scandal of the moment for TikTok
Scandals are piling up for TikTok in recent days. A challenge called the #LabelloChallenge is also creating waves. It’s a tweet and a video from the Ministry of the Interior which set fire to the powder. « #LabelloChallenge, the dangerous new challenge of social networks », titles the video, shared on May 6th. This warns of the dangers of this challenge, which is particularly widespread on TikTok. It initially consisted of kissing a classmate to guess the taste of his lip balm. But very quickly, very dangerous variants of the challenge were born: to scarify or injure yourself if you do not recognize the right balm, or even to end your life when you finish your tube of lip balm.
For the moment, however, no victims of the challenge in France are to be deplored. But TikTok is often singled out for the virality of this type of particularly dangerous challenge with a young and vulnerable audience. Facebook and Meta would even have used this sulphurous reputation of TikTok to seek to denigrate the Chinese social network.
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