Elon Musk has finally provided a justification for laying off thousands of Twitter employees even as the job market is witnessing a slowdown. He put up a tweet stating his reason.
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
In a previous tweet, Musk made some clarifications on Twitter’s content moderation.
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
The day Twitter was flooded with tweets from laid-off employees and others trying to support their colleagues in such situations, the next day Yoel Roth, the head of safety and integrity at Twitter, tweeted to reassure users and sponsors that the social media site’s content moderation tools were still in place.
From day one, Musk has been advocating for “free speech” and in his bid to restore that on Twitter, he has been laying off employees and changing the entire administration at the Twitter office.
Twitter employees had been leaving even before Musk, the world’s richest billionaire and owner of Tesla and SpaceX, completely took over. However, after his entry, the official sacking has been in thousands. After Elon Musk’s takeover, a lot is changing. Its effects include celebrities among various users going away from the website, and advertisers disconnecting ad spending. It has come on the remaining team to manage the “$4 million daily losses”.
Huge firms have decided to put advertisements on the microblogging site, Twitter, on hold. The firms have expressed discomfort with the takeover.
Musk, who calls himself an ardent supporter of free expression, attributed the decline in ad expenditure on the platform to a drop in pressure from activists. He asserted that by adopting specific unfavorable actions, he will stop Twitter from turning into a “free-for-all hellscape.”
However, big advertisers are of the opposite view and think that under his leadership, wrong information and hate speech would be allowed to thrive on the platform.
List of advertisers which put advertisements on Twitter on hold.
Automobile
General Motors Co. and Audi joined automakers including Volkswagen, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Porsche in pausing Twitter ads due to the utter lack of knowledge on how Elon Musk will manage the social media platforms, according to news agency Reuters.
Food and Beverages
The makers of Cheerios, Annie’s macaroni and cheese, Betty Crocker, Haagen-Dazs, Mondelez International Inc., and Carlsberg Group are among a few to have stopped advertisements.
The world’s largest advertising agency, Interpublic Group, has suspended its Twitter adverts due to the “unpredictable and chaotic” environment right now. Pfizer Inc., a leader in pharmaceuticals, and REI, a marketer of clothing and outdoor gear have also joined the league.
