Twitter cuts staff as Musk era continues

Twitter begins widespread layoffs on Friday as new owner Elon Musk company overhaul, raised serious concerns about the chaos engulfing the social media platform and its ability to combat misinformation just days before the US midterm elections.

The speed and scale of the cuts also prompted Musk and Twitter to sue. At least one person has been filed alleging Twitter violations federal law by not providing fired workers mandatory notice.

The San Francisco-based company told workers via email on Thursday that they would study on Friday if they were laid off. About half of the company’s 7,500 employees have been laid off, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of safety and integrity, confirmed in a tweet.

Musk tweeted late Friday that he had no choice but to cut jobs “when the company is losing more than $4 million/day.” He did not provide details of daily losses at the company and said employees who lost their jobs were offered three months’ salary as a severance pay.

No other social media platform comes close to Twitter as a place where public authorities and other key service providers — electoral boards, police departments, utilities, schools and shops news — providing information reliably to people. Many feared Musk’s dismissal would derail this and make it lawless.

Roth said the company’s frontline executives are the group least affected by the job cuts.

He added that “Twitter’s efforts on election integrity – including harmful misinformation that can suppress the vote and combat state-backed disinformation operations – remain is a top priority.”

Meanwhile, Musk tweeted that “Twitter’s strong commitment to content moderation remains completely unchanged.”

But a Twitter employee who spoke to The Associated Press Friday said it will be a lot harder to get that work done starting next week after losing so many colleagues.

“This will certainly affect our ability to provide support for elections,” said the employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns about job security.

The employee said there was no “specific sense of direction” beyond what Musk said publicly on Twitter.

“I follow his tweets and they influence how we prioritize our work,” the employee said. “It’s a very healthy indicator of what to prioritize.”

Several employees who tweeted about their job loss said Twitter had removed their entire team, including one focused on human rights and global conflict, another is examining Twitter’s algorithms for bias in how tweets are amplified, and a team of engineers is dedicated to making the social platform more accessible to people with disabilities.

Eddie Perez, a Twitter citizen integrity team manager who quit in September, said he was concerned layoffs too close to midterm could allow misinformation to “spread like wildfire” during the period. counting votes after the election in particular.

“It is hard for me to believe that it has not had a significant impact on their ability to manage misinformation,” he said.

President Joe Biden, at a campaign event in Illinois on Friday night, said: “What are we all worried about now? Elon Musk, who goes out and buys an outfit to wear to. sending and spewing lies all over the world… How can we expect the kids to understand what’s at stake?”

Twitter employees were expecting to be fired since Musk took the helm. He Fires top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawaland removed the company’s board of directors on his first day as owner.

As email notifications went out, many Twitter employees took to the platform to show support for one another — often simply tweeting blue heart emojis to represent the blue bird. its — and greet with emojis when replying to each other.

A Twitter manager said many employees discovered they had been fired when they could no longer log into the company’s systems. The manager said the way employees were fired showed “a lack of care and thoughtfulness”. The manager, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of concerns about job security, said managers were not informed about who would be fired.

“For me as a manager, it’s frustrating because I have to find out what my team will look like through tweets and through texting and calling people. “, said the employee. “It’s a really hard way to care for your people. And the managers at Twitter care a lot about their people.”

A coalition of civil rights groups escalated their calls on Friday for brands to pause ad buying on the platform. The groups warn that layoffs are especially dangerous ahead of the election, and for transgender people and other groups facing violence inspired by widespread hate speech online.

In a tweet on Friday, Musk blamed activists for what he described as a “massive drop in revenue” since he took over Twitter last weekend.

“There’s little Musk can say to appease advertisers as he keeps the company in turmoil and turmoil, while remaining indifferent to employees,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg. Twitter staff and the law.”

“Musk needs advertisers more than they need him,” she said. “Withdrawing advertising from Twitter is a quick and painless decision for most brands.”

A lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal court in San Francisco representing one employee who was laid off and three others whose work accounts were locked. It alleges Twitter broke the law by not providing the requested notice.

The Employee Adjustment and Retraining Notice Regulations require employers with at least 100 workers to disclose layoffs involving 500 or more employees, regardless of whether Company publicly traded or privately held, like Twitter currently is.

Twitter sent out the notice late Friday in California to its offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Jose. According to the filing, the layoffs affect 983 employees in the state. Twitter said it would continue to pay wages and benefits to workers through January 4, and employees were notified on Friday.

The layoffs affected Twitter’s offices around the world. According to Emma Bartlett, a partner specializing in employment and partnership law at CM Murray LLP, in the UK, it is required by law to notify employees.

The pace of layoffs could also expose Musk and Twitter to discriminatory claims if, for example, they disproportionately affect women, people of color or older workers.

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