TikTok is poised to lay off hundreds of staff in London working on content moderation and security, just as the UK’s Online Safety Act comes into full force requiring international tech companies to prevent the spread of dangerous material or face huge fines.

UK staff in the Chinese-owned group’s trust and safety department received an email on Friday morning stating that “we are considering that moderation and quality assurance work would no longer be carried out at our London site”, as it looks to automate more of that work using artificial intelligence.

ByteDance-owned TikTok said several hundred jobs in its trust and safety team could be affected across the UK as well as south and south-east Asia, as it begins a collective consultation process, part of a global reorganisation of its content moderation efforts.