Twitter Begins Mass Layoffs Musk Blames Activists For Ad Revenue Drop
Tesla CEO and Twitter chief Elon Musk have begun massive layoffs at the social media company. The billionaire explained that there is no choice since Twitter is losing over USD 4 million a day. "Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists," he explained.
Mass Layoffs at Twitter
Twitter’s
new boss, Elon Musk, has laid off about half the employees at the social media
company. The billionaire sent an email to all Twitter employees on Thursday
evening, informing them whether their employment had been terminated.
"To
place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of
reducing our global workforce on Friday," the letter states. "This
action is, unfortunately, necessary to ensure the company’s success moving
forward."
The
letter adds that by 9 a.m. PST on Friday, Nov. 4, "everyone will receive
an individual email with the subject line: Your Role at Twitter... If your
employment is not impacted, you will receive a notification via your Twitter
email. If your employment is impacted, you will receive a notification with the
next steps via email." The letter continues:
"To
help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer
data, our offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be
suspended." If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please
return home."
Musk
explained in a tweet on Friday that the workforce reduction was inevitable
since Twitter is losing over USD 4 million a day. However, he said that
everyone who was let go was offered three months of compensation, noting that
it is 50% more than the legally required amount.
Yoel
Roth, Twitter’s head of safety and integrity, revealed on Friday that Musk
halved Twitter’s workforce company-wide. "Yesterday’s reduction in force
affected approximately 15% of our Trust & Safety organization (as opposed
to approximately 50% cuts company-wide), with our front-line moderation staff
experiencing the least impact," he tweeted. According to Twitter’s annual
report, the company had over 7,500 full-time employees as of December 31, 2021.
Twitter
employees filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday accusing the social media giant
of violating a federal law called the Work Adjustment and Retraining
Notification (WARN) Act that governs notice of employment termination.
Massive Revenue Drop
Musk
also revealed in a tweet on Friday that "Twitter has had a massive drop in
revenue." Before his takeover, the social media company reported making
90% of its revenue from advertisers. However, major companies have stopped advertising
on the platform, allegedly over concerns about how Musk will affect content
moderation policies.
The
billionaire claimed "activist groups pressuring advertisers" led to
the revenue plunge, "even though nothing has changed with content
moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists," he
tweeted on Friday. "They’re trying to destroy free speech in
America."
In
an effort to increase revenue for Twitter, Musk has decided to charge USD 8 per month for users to have a blue checkmark by their name.
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