Tesla CEO Elon Musk defended his decision to lay off Twitter employees, claiming that the microblogging site was losing more than $4 million per day.
Elon Musk remarked on Twitter, “Regarding Twitter’s decrease in force, regrettably, there is no choice when the firm is losing over $4 million each day.” Everyone who left was given three months’ severance pay, which was 50% more than what was legally necessary.”
“Once again, to be clear, Twitter’s strong commitment to content moderation is unwavering. In fact, contrary to what you may hear in the press, we have witnessed nasty speech decrease *below* our prior norms at times this week, he continued.
Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.
Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
The Verge obtained a copy of an unsigned internal document that Twitter employees received on Friday informing them of the impending layoffs. It’s anticipated that Musk would lay off about half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees.
Last week, the businessman completed the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, and on the same day, he sacked several of the organization’s top executives, including the CEO Parag Agrawal.
At a town hall meeting this summer, Musk told employees that there needed to be “a rationalization of headcount” at the social network, indicating that he might eliminate positions there.
Again, to be crystal clear, Twitter’s strong commitment to content moderation remains absolutely unchanged.
In fact, we have actually seen hateful speech at times this week decline *below* our prior norms, contrary to what you may read in the press.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
Earlier, Elon Musk, who completed the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and assumed control of the microblogging network, attributed a “huge loss in revenue” to “activist groups pressing advertisers.”
“Activist groups’ pressure on advertisers has caused Twitter to see a significant decline in revenue, despite the fact that content filtering has not altered and we have done everything we could to placate the activists. Absolutely botched up! In America, they’re attempting to stifle free expression “Posted in a tweet by Musk.
Tesla’s billionaire owner said on Twitter that “activists” aiming to suppress free speech in America are raising issues with how Twitter is controlled.
