Content moderator sues TikTok in UK alleging toxic work environment

By Upmanyu Trivedi

ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok was sued by a content moderator in the UK alleging disability discrimination and a toxic work environment that caused her stress and pregnancy complications.
 

Olivia Anton Altamirano worked on TikTok’s Badness Project meant to weed out harmful content from the platform. She was given targets that were “impossible to meet” and was discriminated because she suffered from multiple sclerosis, Altamirano alleged in court filings. TikTok denied all allegations. 

TikTok failed to strike out all the claims in the case and a judge allowed the case to proceed to the next stage. “This is not to say this claim has good prospects of success but I cannot say this has no reasonable prospects of success,” judge Mark Emery said after a hearing on Wednesday.

Altamirano continues work at TikTok and was not given unrealistic targets, according to the company’s lawyers. Her team manager ensured appropriate support that she needed because of her medical conditions, they said in the documents prepared for the hearing. Lawyers and spokespeople for TikTok and Altamirano didn’t immediately respond to requests for comments.

“I felt offended, harassed and degraded in a toxic work environment,” Altamirano alleged. The stress allegedly lead to anxiety, depression and complications in her pregnancy.  

The employee lawsuits in the UK adds to the legal woes in the US where it awaits a prolonged legal fight over a possible ban. A key hearing in the case is set for Sept. 16. 

The company is also contesting a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the US Justice Department of Justice alleging ByteDance allowed millions of children under the age of 13 to create accounts without their parents’ knowledge or consent. TikTok disagrees with the claims and said many of them are inaccurate or have been addressed.

Altamirano, who joined TikTok in 2020, has urged the London employment tribunal to order TikTok to compensate her for the injury to feelings and health insurance.