Elon Musk orchestrates a massive layoff campaign: who is affected, how he justifies them... and what will be the future of Twitter

byFaisal •
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- The tycoon announced that this Friday the layoffs of thousands of employees of the social network began.

Elon Musk orchestrates a massive layoff campaign: who is affected, how he justifies them... and what will be the future of Twitter
Elon Musk officially bought Twitter last week for $44 billion.

Elon Musk orchestrates a massive layoff campaign: who is affected, how he justifies them... and what will be the future of Twitter

Elon Musk became the owner of Twitter last Thursday, October 27 and, just a few days later, he has already started layoffs of thousands of employees of the social network, up to 3,700, according to various US media, which would mean leaving on the street about half of the workforce. The one who is the richest person in the world has kept her promise and this Friday she has begun to communicate, it is said that in most cases by email, who will continue to work under her command and who will have to find a new job.

Who are the affected

The company's templates in the United States, Europe, and Asia are the first to be affected by this new and unexpected decision by the new owner of Twitter. The Business Insider portal indicates that around 06:00 GMT (07:00 Spanish time) this Friday, a thousand people had already received a dismissal email.

An email that the company's workers have been waiting for since Musk had already announced that on Friday, just a week after taking over the application, he would proceed to apply a "difficult" but necessary measure to "put Twitter in a healthy trajectory.

These layoffs are already affecting staff at headquarters in the United States, United Kingdom, and Singapore, but one of the most affected places could be the New York office, where almost all workers, at least 90%, have lost their jobs. employment, according to their own testimonies. Among the dismissed, there are managerial positions, such as the global editorial chief, the director of ethics and transparency, the chief of information, or the chief of strategy, which assures the same medium.

Likewise, the tycoon has not taken into account the situations of the people he has fired: several pregnant women are now without a payroll. Rachel Bonn and Shennan Lu are one of those affected, as they have published on their social network profiles under the hashtag #LoveWhereYouWorked, which together with #OneTeam the former workers are posting farewell messages.


 

But not all remain in simple posts: in San Francisco, five affected have filed a lawsuit against Twitter for having violated the law that requires 60 days' notice to those laid off, according to the NBC network. According to a director of the Prospect union organization, quoted by Bloomberg, London workers have also begun to join unions in recent days for fear of being victims of dismissals.

Musk has not quantified the final number of layoffs, but it is estimated that it will be at least half of a total workforce of 7,500 people. The New York Times even gives the figure of 3,738 people, mainly from the San Francisco offices. Perhaps as a strategy to curb lawsuits, the new owner of Twitter has offered those laid-off compensations equivalent to two monthly payments.

Closing of the offices while it communicates the dismissals

This Friday Elon Musk not only started the process of mass layoffs but also ordered the closure of the company's offices. In addition, it has prohibited employees from "discussing confidential company information on social networks, in the press and anywhere else."

Musk's actions were already beginning to make themselves felt Thursday night: Some employees lost access to the company's corporate accounts and other internal applications, without having yet received termination letters or any other information.


Thus, in the early hours of Friday, the nightmare of many workers began. Employees at the San Francisco headquarters received an email asking them not to come to work: "Our offices will be temporarily closed and access cards suspended. If you are in or on your way to the office, please come home.". This message, which begins with a generic "Team", didn't beat around the bush.

"In an effort to put Twitter on a healthy trajectory, we will complete the difficult process of reducing our workforce on Friday. We recognize that this is going to impact quite a few people who have provided valuable input, but action is absolutely necessary." to ensure the company's success moving forward," the text continued.

In this way, the message continues to specify that all employees will receive a message throughout the day notifying them whether or not they will continue within the company. And while some have been able to be part of the current team, they don't seem too happy either: "I got the email... I still have a job. But I stayed up last night watching hardworking, talented, caring people log off one by one, and not I knew what to say." 

How will they be compensated?

Twitter employees who have lost their jobs will receive a "compensation" of three months of their salary after the mass dismissal that occurred this Friday in the company and ordered by its new owner, the South African tycoon Elon Musk.

This has been announced by the billionaire himself in a message on the social network, assuring that a drastic reduction in the workforce has been carried out because "there was no other option".

"Everyone who has been laid off has been offered three months severance pay, which is 50% more than is legally required," Musk said.

Loss of income, justification for layoffs

Musk, who could be preparing other important changes in the operation of the platform, shared this Friday through Twitter that the application has had "a massive drop in income" due to the withdrawal of advertisers, for which he has blamed "activist groups" that put pressure on companies.

Thus, the also CEO of Tesla has added that this situation is taking place "despite the fact that nothing has changed with content moderation" and that "everything possible has been done to appease the activists." "They are trying to destroy freedom of expression in the United States," he said.


And it is that at least two major advertising companies have recommended their clients suspend their campaigns on Twitter and several large companies have already decided to stop their ads as a result of the doubts that this new acquisition by Musk has created and, above all, his plans to change content moderation policies.

The food giant General Mills, for example, has confirmed this Friday that it has suspended its advertising, as have the car manufacturers General Motors and Audi; the pharmaceutical Pfizer, and the Mondelez food group. Companies have begun to back away despite Musk trying to reassure them that the social network "cannot become a hell" where anything goes and "anything can be said without consequence."

Advertising currently accounts for about 90% of Twitter's revenue, though Musk has already said he wants to reduce that reliance and have significant cost-cutting as well.

And now that?

Musk announced on the day of the purchase that the reason he was acquiring Twitter was to ensure, for "the future of civilization," the existence of "a common digital public square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy way, without resorting to violence.

In addition, he has assured that his ultimate goal is for the platform to "help humanity", but he has not yet announced how he will achieve it and what his business strategy will be. However, in recent days, he has used the social network itself to outline some possible ideas, such as an $8 "premium" subscription or the revival of the Vine video service.

The premium subscription would give some benefits, such as less advertising, the option to post longer videos, and get a checkmark next to the name (an option so far only available to public figures). As for videos, you might prioritize this format due to the popularity of TikTok.

On October 30, the tycoon asked his followers if he should restore Vine (a short video platform that Twitter bought in 2012 and closed in 2016), and obtained the support of 69.6% of voters. And it is that, according to The Washington Post, which had access to internal company emails, Twitter is working on a function that would allow users to post videos and charge users for watching them.

On the other hand, a much lower content restriction is expected, since Musk has always defended freedom of expression as one of his priorities for the social network and has criticized, among other things, that figures such as former US President Donald Trump have been vetoed.

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