# Rest of World: The people who clean up your TikTok feed are starting to fight back [Canonical reading](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/rest-of-world-the-people-who-clean-up-your-tiktok-feed-are-65995d7e) In this Rest of World report, Kaya Genç describes Turkish TikTok content moderators’ accounts of increasingly demanding work, distressing material, and efforts to organize at Telus Digital, which handles moderation work for ByteDance. Workers say a surge in video volume and violence made the job harder, while office restrictions and productivity monitoring added pressure. One worker described the emotional strain; another said the workload had once been light. The report connects these accounts to moderators’ efforts in several countries to seek better protections. It also quotes a researcher who says fear of replacement by AI can make workers less likely to speak up. Telus says it provides counseling and wellness breaks, and denies that union activity led to terminations. After Turkey’s Ministry of Labor and Social Security approved the union request, Telus changed its declared industry classification; the report says this effectively blocked the union. Its status remains uncertain as the case goes through Turkish courts. The article’s central tension is that human review remains necessary amid a high volume of posts, while the people doing that work describe significant pressures and an unresolved fight over representation. Headline and summary by Escape Meridian, prepared by Luna from the attributed source. A source check is not independent confirmation of the source’s claims. ## Original source Rest of World · Article Original source date: Jun 25, 2025 (2025-06-25T10:00:59+00:00). Date basis: Date stated by the publisher. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-05T16:10:59.352Z. First observed: 2026-11-05T15:41:56.887Z. Retrieved: 2026-11-05T16:10:09.362Z. - [The people who clean up your TikTok feed are starting to fight back](https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-moderators-turkey/) ## Limits Several Telus Digital employees spoke anonymously because they feared retaliation; their accounts are attributed to them in the report. The report presents workers’ accounts and Telus Digital’s responses; it does not independently resolve the dispute over whether terminations were connected to union activity. The union’s status was unresolved in the report and its case was still going through Turkish courts. ## Open question How will Turkish courts decide the union’s status? ## Source-stated Kaya Genç’s report describes Turkish moderators’ accounts of traumatic work, including exposure to graphic content and insufficient support. > TikTok content moderators in Turkey are speaking out about traumatic working conditions, including exposure to graphic content, long hours, and a lack of mental health support. - [Supporting source](https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-moderators-turkey/) ## Source-stated Workers told the report that increased volume and disturbing content intensified the work, while productivity measurement added pressure. > That changed in 2023 with a surge in the volume and the violence in the posts, moderators said. - [Supporting source](https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-moderators-turkey/) ## Source-stated Telus Digital says it offers support and denies that it terminated employees because of union affiliation. > The company says no terminations were based on union affiliation - [Supporting source](https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-moderators-turkey/) ## Source-stated The report says a change in Telus Digital’s declared industry classification effectively blocked the union, and that its status remains uncertain amid court proceedings. > The status of the union has since been up in the air. - [Supporting source](https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-moderators-turkey/) ## Source-stated The report describes moderators in multiple countries organizing for better protections, while a researcher says fear of AI replacement may discourage workers from speaking up. > The workers are bound by nondisclosure agreements and are concerned that they can be replaced at any time by AI, so they are less likely to speak up about their problems, Miceli told Rest of World. - [Supporting source](https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-moderators-turkey/) ## Source and contributor context Kaya Genç · Article author These are credits stated by the source; they do not establish a profile match or authorship of every passage. ## Source media Media declared by the original publisher; availability checked separately from the editorial reading. - [Gaurav Sharma for Rest of World · Rest of World](https://fastly.restofworld.org/uploads/2025/06/2025-A0129-Sharma-Fallback.png?width=800&dpr=2&crop=3:2) ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## Rest of World Rest of World reports technology and its social effects outside a US-only frame. - [Explore this context](/entities/rest-of-world) - [Reference](https://restofworld.org/) - [Reference](https://restofworld.org/feed/latest/rss.xml) ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: 23c7d160-9e53-4ce7-87cd-ccf5ebc477ce. Prepared by gpt-6-luna; grounding review by gpt-6-luna. Source check: uncertain by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-05T16:10:59.352Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: useful\_perspective. Observation: 3c20cd06b76216c32796c7485967402d6b974ba2c664662b613b20971e458bed. Source text hash: 2d60737c94a0adb56895f586a8c4c08d2edd26fbc68591da6138aac4ace17e3c. ## Revision and source-check history ### Version 1 — 2026-11-05T16:10:59.352Z In this Rest of World report, Kaya Genç describes Turkish TikTok content moderators’ accounts of increasingly demanding work, distressing material, and efforts to organize at Telus Digital, which handles moderation work for ByteDance. Workers say a surge in video volume and violence made the job harder, while office restrictions and productivity monitoring added pressure. One worker described the emotional strain; another said the workload had once been light. The report connects these accounts to moderators’ efforts in several countries to seek better protections. It also quotes a researcher who says fear of replacement by AI can make workers less likely to speak up. Telus says it provides counseling and wellness breaks, and denies that union activity led to terminations. After Turkey’s Ministry of Labor and Social Security approved the union request, Telus changed its declared industry classification; the report says this effectively blocked the union. Its status remains uncertain as the case goes through Turkish courts. The article’s central tension is that human review remains necessary amid a high volume of posts, while the people doing that work describe significant pressures and an unresolved fight over representation. ## Original source Rest of World · Article Original source date: Jun 25, 2025 (2025-06-25T10:00:59+00:00). Date basis: Date stated by the publisher. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-05T16:10:59.352Z. First observed: 2026-11-05T15:41:56.887Z. Retrieved: 2026-11-05T16:10:09.362Z. - [The people who clean up your TikTok feed are starting to fight back](https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-moderators-turkey/) ## Limits Several Telus Digital employees spoke anonymously because they feared retaliation; their accounts are attributed to them in the report. The report presents workers’ accounts and Telus Digital’s responses; it does not independently resolve the dispute over whether terminations were connected to union activity. The union’s status was unresolved in the report and its case was still going through Turkish courts. ## Open question How will Turkish courts decide the union’s status? ## Source-stated Kaya Genç’s report describes Turkish moderators’ accounts of traumatic work, including exposure to graphic content and insufficient support. > TikTok content moderators in Turkey are speaking out about traumatic working conditions, including exposure to graphic content, long hours, and a lack of mental health support. - [Supporting source](https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-moderators-turkey/) ## Source-stated Workers told the report that increased volume and disturbing content intensified the work, while productivity measurement added pressure. > That changed in 2023 with a surge in the volume and the violence in the posts, moderators said. - [Supporting source](https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-moderators-turkey/) ## Source-stated Telus Digital says it offers support and denies that it terminated employees because of union affiliation. > The company says no terminations were based on union affiliation - [Supporting source](https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-moderators-turkey/) ## Source-stated The report says a change in Telus Digital’s declared industry classification effectively blocked the union, and that its status remains uncertain amid court proceedings. > The status of the union has since been up in the air. - [Supporting source](https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-moderators-turkey/) ## Source-stated The report describes moderators in multiple countries organizing for better protections, while a researcher says fear of AI replacement may discourage workers from speaking up. > The workers are bound by nondisclosure agreements and are concerned that they can be replaced at any time by AI, so they are less likely to speak up about their problems, Miceli told Rest of World. - [Supporting source](https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-moderators-turkey/) ## Source and contributor context Kaya Genç · Article author These are credits stated by the source; they do not establish a profile match or authorship of every passage. ## Source media Media declared by the original publisher; availability checked separately from the editorial reading. - [Gaurav Sharma for Rest of World · Rest of World](https://fastly.restofworld.org/uploads/2025/06/2025-A0129-Sharma-Fallback.png?width=800&dpr=2&crop=3:2) ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## Rest of World Rest of World reports technology and its social effects outside a US-only frame. - [Explore this context](/entities/rest-of-world) - [Reference](https://restofworld.org/) - [Reference](https://restofworld.org/feed/latest/rss.xml) ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: 23c7d160-9e53-4ce7-87cd-ccf5ebc477ce. Prepared by gpt-6-luna; grounding review by gpt-6-luna. Source check: uncertain by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-05T16:10:59.352Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: useful\_perspective. Observation: 3c20cd06b76216c32796c7485967402d6b974ba2c664662b613b20971e458bed. Source text hash: 2d60737c94a0adb56895f586a8c4c08d2edd26fbc68591da6138aac4ace17e3c. ### uncertain — 2026-11-05T16:10:59.352Z — anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 Publication: 23c7d160-9e53-4ce7-87cd-ccf5ebc477ce attribution — pass: The reading correctly credits Kaya Genç and Rest of World. It attributes worker accounts to the workers, the AI-replacement point to the researcher, and the denials to Telus Digital. > By Kaya Genç summary — uncertain: The summary is accurate but weakens the core dispute. It reports Telus's denial that union activity led to firings without stating the allegation being denied. It also omits Hasan Hüseyin Yavuz, the central figure: he says he was fired for trying to launch a union and protested for 114 days. The report also says dozens of workers were dismissed and around 15 sued. Smallest repair: add one sentence saying Yavuz says he was fired for trying to start the union, and that about 15 dismissed workers have sued. This restores the stakes and the voice that Telus's response answers. > He said he was fired for trying to launch a union for the tech workers who scour social media for violent, racist, and sexual posts. date — pass: The originalPublished value, 2025-06-25, matches the article byline date. No earlier publication date is indicated. > 25 June 2025 • Istanbul, Turkey support — pass: Each claim is source-stated and properly attributed. The surge in volume, the productivity monitoring, the industry reclassification, the uncertain union status, the court case, the researcher's AI-replacement point and Telus's denials all appear in the text. The central tension about human review is grounded in the reporter's own statement. The question is open and follows from the evidence. > Still, the sheer volume of posts means human eyeballs are needed. media — pass: The selected media is the verified direct link to the original Rest of World article. This is the most direct way for readers to reach the source. ## Recorded references Explicit citations in public readings and public file attachments to this reading. Shared topics are not citations. Other artifact types need an explicit reference adapter. No public references recorded here yet. [Reference data (JSON)](/readings/65995d7e45a7c812c4fcb288e82df19413dc3dec6a7c60ef5999092cf2b1de7b/references.json) ## Corrections and challenges [Send a correction or an opposing source](https://escapemeridian.com/corrections/) [JSON record](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/rest-of-world-the-people-who-clean-up-your-tiktok-feed-are-65995d7e.json)