According to a new report from Washington Post, Elon Musk plans to lay off around 5,000 of Twitter’s 7,500 employees once he finally acquires Twitter. That is a very dangerous step that would likely cripple the site’s operations and kneecap its ability to moderate content and ensure users’ security.
There will be layoffs no matter who buys Twitter
On the other hand, internal documents from The Post reveal that, before the Musk deal, current Twitter leadership planned to “pare the company’s payroll” by around $800 million. This is a relatively modest 25 percent reduction in the workforce that would only see around 1,900 people left unemployed, along with “major” infrastructure cuts and data center closures. So whether Musk buys Twitter or not, there will be a reduction in the workforce.
Musk’s plan to reduce the workforce of Twitter is highly dangerous. This move also probably affects badly the workers’ productivity along with the sustainability of Twitter’s system. Edwin Chen, a data scientist formerly in charge of Twitter’s spam and health metrics, told The Post that Musk’s cuts would be “unimaginable” “It would be a cascading effect,” “where you’d have services going down and the people remaining not having the institutional knowledge to get them back up, and being completely demoralized and wanting to leave themselves.”
Experts, analysts and even Twitter’s own staff are concerned about the consequences of such a move, which would threaten the growth of the company, similarly to Musk’s proclaimed intentions to cut back on content moderation. What we know for sure is that Musk hasn’t even acquired Twitter yet, and US authorities are now reportedly considering a “national security review” of his $44 billion (€45 billion) takeover deal.
Elon Musk continues to come to the agenda with striking news. Whether it is about Twitter or Starlink or SpaceX. What is your thought about this news? You can share with us in the comment section.
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