Elon Musk continues to add staff cuts at Twitter, both in the United States and in the international divisions. This time, those affected are not part of the company’s staff -last week half of the employees were laid off-, but are subcontracted personnel.
And they are not few. As Platformer’s Casey Newton reports, 4,400 of the 5,500 contractors who were working at Twitter have been laid off. Most of these workers were dedicated to content moderation; the rest were in charge of making the platform’s core infrastructure work properly.
Without prior notice
Most of the fired externals are content moderators
And, it seems, once again, the shapes have left a lot to be desired. Newton has ensured that these external workers have not even received a dismissal message, but have been cut off from Slack and his email. So when they have started work they have realized that they have been fired.
“One of my contractors has just been deactivated without notice amid critical changes to our child safety workflows,” one of the managers reportedly posted on the company’s Slack. At the same time, one of the dismissed has thanked Newton for giving this information, since thanks to him he has found out that he will not work for Twitter again.
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From the social network they neither confirm nor deny. The American media have tried to get the version from Twitter, but there is no one on the other side. It is understandable, since the communication department is also another of the guillotined areas: there is only one employee, according to Axios.
Objective: avoid bankruptcy
This new batch of layoffs is another of Chief Twit’s maneuvers for the company to start going up on the economic level. Everything has been going wrong for the South African tycoon since he bought Twitter for $44 billion. Thousands of users have closed their accounts, advertisers are fleeing in terror and verified payment accounts, their star measure, have been temporarily withdrawn due to the number of trolls on the platform.
Musk’s finger points to where the door is
FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP
Since money doesn’t go into Twitter and only goes out, Musk isn’t shying away from laying off employees he understands are expendable. His number one goal is to prevent the company from going bankrupt, a possibility that is real as he has confirmed.
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“We have to put in more money than we spend. If we don’t and there’s a massive negative cash flow, then bankruptcy is not out of the question,” Musk was quoted as saying at a recent meeting by various US media.
mass purge
The Twitter team: understaffed and overworked
On Twitter, only Musk remains at the top of the hierarchy as Chief Twit and the employees necessary for the platform to continue working. Although this does not mean that in the near future they can become surplus personnel. In the offices of Twitter no one is safe: neither the common employee nor the executives who have worked hand in hand with Musk. Some have already jumped ship like Yoel Roth or Robin Wheeler.
Those who remain also have to live up to the demands of the South African tycoon. They are clear and not everyone is willing to comply with them: you cannot work from home unless you are exceptional and show it; and if you have to be in the offices you must spend at least 40 hours a week.
