ENTERPISE MINISTER Peter Burke announced today that Chinese social media giant TikTok will be implementing a wave of redundancies this coming April. The conglomerate currently employs around 3,000 people at its Irish headquarters and it’s expected that 300 of those—or one in ten—will be laid off over the coming months.
The Government’s Department of Enterprise was only made aware of TikTok’s plans on Tuesday, after receiving a collective redundancy notification. The social media company originally signalled in February that a process of ‘global restructuring’ was set to take place.
Minister Burke said: “My first thoughts are with the employees impacted by this announcement along with their families. My department, along with our agencies, will work to support workers affected in the period ahead as they pursue alternative employment.
“TikTok is a significant employer in Ireland and as part of the proposed restructuring, [the] Government understands that there may be a number of open roles available to employees who are at risk of being made redundant.
“I know this announcement will be very difficult for those impacted and [the] Government is fully committed to supporting affected staff.”
TikTok has been experiencing a turbulent 2025, after a de jure nationwide ban on the short-form video-hosting service was implemented on January 19 in the United States. The US has expressed concern over the potential for user data collection to be passed onto the Chinese Government.
Since more than 135 million Americans are said to use the platform each month, these latest punitive measures have affected TikTok’s user base drastically, with the company warning of a potential $1.3 billion hit to small businesses and content creators in the US alone.
See More: Department For Enterprise, Redundancies, Tiktok
