Employees say TikTok had a ‘kill list’ of workers in the London office they wanted to force out, report says

• Employees at TikTok say the company had a “kill list” of workers they wanted to get rid of, per the FT.
• Staff said the list included the names of several employees in the London office.
• Some employees accused leaders of purposefully creating hostile work environments.

Employees at TikTok say the company had a “kill list” of workers they wanted to force out of the London office, the Financial Times reported.

Four unnamed employees with knowledge of the subject told the FT that the list included the names of several workers that the company wanted to be rid of. 

They said that some of the workers on the list had only been with the company for a few weeks and in some cases, replacements were brought in before workers had either quit or been fired.

Other employees said that senior leaders would purposefully create hostile work environments to make staff resign. 

A spokesperson for TikTok told Insider: “Any such list, terminology or purpose would not be condoned or in accordance with our internal policies on probation and performance management.”

They added the company could not find the list referred to by employees. 

One London-based employee told the FT she had been singled out and regularly chastised by colleagues. She said the treatment led her to question what was wrong with her. 

“If they don’t like you, they gaslight you or make your job untenable,” another unnamed employee said. They also accused the company of taking work away from employees on the list. 

Multiple employees also reported that staff who were featured on the list would have their roles changed to include tasks they were not trained in.

A spokesperson for TikTok told Insider: “This is not behavior we would condone, and we have robust systems and standards in place to ensure fair, objective probation review and performance management processes. We would never endorse any process which sought to unfairly target or undermine specific employees.”

The spokesperson added that the company encourages employees to share feedback with managers and HR via an anonymous channel. 

This is not the first time TikTok has been scrutinized for its working culture.

Earlier this year, former TikTok employees from the company’s San Francisco and New York offices told Insider that TikTok had a “996 culture” where employees were encouraged to work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.

A TikTok spokesperson denied at the time that the company had ever implemented a “996” work schedule.

More TikTok employees also told Insider that TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, influenced and shaped TikTok’s working culture.