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Twitter Chaos Continues as Offices Close and Workers Quit

David Paul

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Twitter staff Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s ‘work long hours at high intensity or take severance packages’ rhetoric earlier this week has caused many to take the latter option.

Twitter boss Elon Musk has been hit with more bad news after announcement that Twitter offices have been closed without notice.

In a message sent out to workers, they were told offices would reopen on Monday 21st November, but did not provide a reason for the move.

Additionally, the message said: “Please continue to comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere.”

Alongside the move, news broke earlier this week that staff at the social media company were leaving after being told they must work “long hours at high intensity” or leave the company.

Workers were told they had until Thursday the 17th of November to comply and sign up, and those that failed would be given three months’ severance pay.

Hundreds of employees have reportedly rejected the ultimatum to keep working for the business, which threatens its ability to keep operating.

The hashtags #RIPTwitter and #TwitterTakedown were trending on the platform on Friday morning, signalling a potential backlash from users as well.

So far, Twitter doesn’t appear to have made comment on the situation.

Since Musk took over the company, he has been hit with a multitude of issues after making a series of controversial decisions.

His first was to fire all members of the Twitter board, taking full control of the company himself. He then went on to introduce an $8 charge for the ‘blue tick’ tag, which is utilised by millions of users.

Earlier in November, Elon Musk announced that the company would have to cut around 50%, or around 3,700, of its workforce as staff overheads were costing the company too much.

According to a report from the New York Times, it was also noted that he has been monitoring the chats between staff on internal communication platform Slack and firing those that criticize him.


Are tech giants feeling the squeeze?

But it isn’t just Twitter and Elon Musk who are having issues right now; Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg also dropped thousands of staff  this month in a major cost cutting move.

The social media giant has seen a decline in share prices and a jump in expenditure after financial burdens, arguably caused by metaverse spending and global instability.

More than 11,000 employees lost their jobs across various levels at the company, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a letter to employees.


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Ecommerce giant Amazon has also made an announcement this week that it would be letting go around 10,000 staff members, according to a blog post from Dave Limp, Senior Vice President of Devices & Services at Amazon.

Limp cited the current economic crisis as the main reason for the move, as the world continues to face “an unusual and uncertain macroeconomic environment”.

“After a deep set of reviews, we recently decided to consolidate some teams and programs. One of the consequences of these decisions is that some roles will no longer be required,” Limp said.

“It pains me to have to deliver this news as we know we will lose talented Amazonians from the Devices & Services org as a result. I am incredibly proud of the team we have built and to see even one valued team member leave is never an outcome any of us want,” he added.


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David Paul

Staff Writer, DIGIT

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