Confusion reigned inside Twitter Friday morning after hundreds of employees failed to respond to an ultimatum from Elon Musk asking them to commit to a “extremely difficult” work culture or quit.
Hundreds of employees have announced on the company’s internal Slack channels that they are leaving the platform, according to two people familiar with the situation. The exodus comes ahead of a deadline Musk has set that requires employees to officially sign up for their desire to be part of building “Twitter 2.0” or leave with three months of severance pay.
Many employees shared an emoji of a greeting, or a blue heart, to show close friendship, one of the people said. Some users of Twittermeanwhile, expressed concern that the latest bounces could wreak havoc on the site.
Several employees who said they would resign still had access to email and Slack on Friday morning, two said, one of whom asked if Twitter had enough people to lock down the system.
The ultimatum is part of Musk’s effort to overhaul Twitter’s historic laid-back culture, using it as a blueprint for the harsh long-hours culture at Tesla and SpaceX, among others. which he runs. Billionaire on Wednesday tell the staff they “will need to work extremely hard” and that the company will focus on engineering, as “a software and server company”.
Musk sent out an email urging all software engineers present at the San Francisco headquarters at 2 p.m. Pacific Time to meet in person, asking workers outside of the city to fly in, two announcer.
The two said the summons were issued despite the fact that all employees were informed on Thursday that the offices were closed and would remain closed on Friday with badge access suspended. only.
The resignation raises concerns that the company has been left with knowledge and capacity gaps, just weeks after Musk cut half of his 7,500 workforce following the injury. $44 billion acquisition. Some platform users are concerned that these changes could lead to the impending demise of Twitter.
One employee said: “I cannot stress enough how things are at a standstill.
A week ago, Musk faced a small exodus of top cybersecurity leaders, including Yoel Roth, head of trust and safety. On Thursday, Ella Irwin, the company’s vice president of health products and services, was named Roth’s replacement in an effort to assuage some concerns, two people familiar with the matter said. know.
Some employees tried to ask for an extension of Musk’s “tough” ultimatum appointed by Irwin while they reassessed, one of the people said.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Musk emailed employees saying they could work remotely as long as they were high-achieving and approved by their managers. Just last week he Obligatory that all Twitter employees must be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours per week.
It “felt like they were trying to convince [some] people stay,” an employee said on Thursday.
However, others have come under public fire in recent days for challenging the billionaire businessman or voicing concerns through internal messages on Slack or on the platform itself, three former employees said. said.
The rapid cuts and changes have raised concerns about a rise in misinformation and hate speech on the platform. Musk has suspended subscriptions to flagship premium subscription service Twitter Blue after its “blue tick” feature was abused by imposters, targeting politicians and brands like Eli Lilly and Lockheed Martin.
Last week, Musk also warned employees that bankruptcy was inevitable. “How do you make a small amount of money on social media? Let’s start with the big one,” Musk wrote on Twitter as the resignations arrived.
Meanwhile, Musk faces close scrutiny from regulators around the globe.
A group of top Democratic senators on Thursday urge Federal Trade Commission to investigate Twitter over concerns that Musk’s company reshuffle has “undermineed the integrity and safety of the platform.”
In a letter to FTC chair Lina Khan, seven senators cited multiple job cuts and reported that the company had scaled back its internal privacy review as part of an effort to cut jobs. Cut the cost. Signatories include Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Edward Markey and Cory Booker.
European regulators and the Irish Data Protection Commission, Europe’s top privacy watchdog, have also investigated the company. about the same concernThe Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
