According to an internal document, Twitter is laying off “about 50%” of its employees worldwide.

As Elon Musk announced, Twitter announced this Friday that it was laying off “about 50%” of its 7,500 global employees, a week after it was acquired by the richest man on the planet.

“About 50% of the workforce will be affected” for layoffs, points to the e-mail addressed to AFP Agencywhich was sent to employees Twitter who lost their jobs after buying the company 44 billion dollars.

This Friday, the firm’s employees were urged to stay at home pending layoffs as part of a company restructuring initiated by Musk.

They’ve already been warned

The California-based firm communicated its decision to every employee by email and announced the temporary closure of offices.

“As announced earlier today, Twitter reduction to help improve the health of the company. These decisions are never easy and we regret to inform you that your position in Twitter is exposed to. Today (Friday) is his last day of work,” reads one of the emails sent to employees that AFP had access to.

Workers have been preparing for layoffs since Musk completed his takeover of the company last week. $44 billionand quickly proceeded to dissolve the board of directors and fire the CEO and top managers.

online reactions

Some workers learned as early as Friday that they had been fired and turned to the Blue Bird network to say goodbye to their colleagues.

“I don’t have a job,” former employee Blake Herzinger tweeted as others reported losing access to company servers and email accounts.

Email sent to employees Twitter on Thursday, he ordered them not to come to work on Friday.

“Our offices will be temporarily closed and all access credentials will be suspended,” the post reads. He also pointed out that Twitter going through an “incredibly difficult” time.

“We understand that this will affect a number of people who have made valuable contributions to Twitterbut, unfortunately, this measure is necessary to guarantee the success of the company in the future.

Thursday night, five employees Twitter Recently laid off workers filed a class action lawsuit against the company for not receiving the 60-day notice required by law. USA in connection with mass layoffs, according to the text of the statement, which AFP has read.

Elon Musk is looking for responsibility after the fall

To finance a purchase TwitterMusk owes money to the company, whose financial position is already fragile after significant losses in the first two quarters of the year.

Musk, a 51-year-old engineer of South African origin with US and Canadian citizenship and the head of Tesla and SpaceX, took out loans worth $13 billionwhich must be returned Twitter and not for him.

also for sale around $15.5 billion of his shares in Tesla twice, in April and August, and secured loans for 12.5 billion with their names of automakers.

On Friday, Musk blamed the drop in income Twitter “a group of activists who put pressure on advertisers, although nothing has changed with content moderation, and we have done our best to reassure the activists.”

“It really is nonsense! America is trying to destroy freedom of speech,” he added.

Advertising is the main source of income for Twitter and Musk tried to calm the situation, reassuring that the platform would not become “a hell for everyone.”

But big companies such as General Motors and Volkswagen stopped their advertising in Twitter after purchase.

Civil rights groups have expressed concern that Musk is allowing uncontrolled hate speech and misinformation on the social media platform and is reactivating suspended accounts, including that of the former US president. Donald Trumpexpelled shortly after an attack by his supporters on CapitolJanuary 6, 2021.

Musk has announced that he will form a committee to evaluate the social network’s future posting policy and reinstate suspended accounts.

One of the main ideas put forward by Musk after he came to power is the creation of an eight-dollar-a-month subscription that allows users to have your certified account and be less exposed to ads.

But this project has caused a lot of criticism and reluctance, especially among users who already have an authenticated account.

(AFP)

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