Elon Musk is the proud owner of Twitter, one of the best social media companies today, for three weeks only. However, the changes and the laying off of staff that he made for this short period were not matched at Twitter for a decade. His main concern is the financial situation of the company.
As soon as Elon Musk stepped into office, he fired all top executives that he had a ‘beef’ with previously, and hinted at up to 75% layoffs in the company. From the more sounding names, Yoel Roth, who served as the head of security and integrity is the latest to get fired by Elon Musk.
Elon Musk Hints At Bankruptcy And Staff At Twitter Is Under Massive Pressure
In addition to all these announced layoffs, staff at Twitter starts packing their bags on their own as they are massively leaving the company, seeking a better alternative.
People leave every day. Yesterday, Elon Musk’s day started by seeing the resignation letter of three more high-position people in the company. The top security officers. Lea Kissner, the chief information security officer, Damien Kieran, the chief privacy officer, and Marianne Fogarty, the chief compliance officer.
“I’ve made the hard decision to leave Twitter. I’ve had the opportunity to work with amazing people and I’m so proud of the privacy, security, and IT teams and the work we’ve done. I’m looking forward to figuring out what’s next.” – Lea Kissner wrote on Twitter.
People value Lea Kissner as one of the best managers at Twitter. She successfully managed the information security department for a long period. People working at Twitter, who are aware of her accomplishments value her for her profound work and tireless spirit.
“So heartening to read this outpouring of support for you, Lea.” – one Twitter user replied to her. “It’s great to know that there are still senior managers who lead with integrity and compassion and who command the respect and affection of their team! Maybe a management book in your future? Thank you for all you’ve done. This area of the IT landscape is sometimes the most invisible, especially to the end users. They have no clue how the fruits of your hard work kept so many users safer on the platform. Fair winds, and thank you.”
Elon Musk’s emails on the other side are exactly the opposite of encouraging and positive. Ever since he stepped into office his deeds aren’t helping the staff to encourage and get confidence in Twitter’s future. Elon Musk’s constant worries about the financial situation is panicking people. In a recent email to the employees, he hinted that the financial situation at Twitter is catastrophic. He let his employees know that the implemented subscription service is ‘crucial’ for Twitter’s survival.
“Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn.” – Musk said in the email. “We need roughly half of our revenue to be subscription.”
At the staff meeting that Elon Musk had at the beginning of his time at Twitter, he downgraded the people working on maintaining user privacy and data security on the social media.
At the same time, Elon Musk struggles to keep the advertisers, paying for marketing to Twitter, to stay on the platform. On Wednesday, he held an online meeting where he tried to pursue the advertisers to stay on the platform.
People’s departures from the company are surpassing Twitter’s ability to deal with the problems appearing, as there are not enough people, and most certainly not enough experienced people to solve the complex problems. As problems pile up, advertisers pause their ads on Twitter, or completely banish them from the platform. Furthermore, the two people responsible for contact with the advertisers left the company.
“So the two people Elon brought forward to talk with advertisers in an attempt to convince them to keep partnering with the company just quit.” – Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change tweeted. “Companies that stay with Twitter at this point will be tied to these dangerous and unhinged policy changes.”
The subscription service that Elon Musk implemented for the company created a massive disorder as well. Even though it might be beneficial financially, it creates a massive confusion. Verified accounts pop up with names of celebrities and create massive confusion. Civil rights groups express their concern that this lack of clarity on content moderation policies would lead to hate speech and the spread of misinformation.
“I have never seen a billionaire begging for your $8 this much.”- Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP tweeted. “Clearly, our efforts – calling on companies to pause all advertising on Twitter – are working. Corporations need to be accountable, and Twitter is no exception. Hate speech and disinformation have no place anywhere.”
The Federal Trade Commission obliges Elon Musk to perform privacy reviews before implementing any kind of changes affecting Twitter’s products. However, Alex Spiro, the head of legal affairs at Twitter claims Elon Musk ‘does not fear’ the FTC.
“Elon is willing to take on a huge amount of risk in relation to this company and its users, because ‘Elon puts rockets into space, he’s not afraid of the FTC.’” – According to an employee who heard Alex Spiro address the matter.
Twitter’s future is uncertain and unclear. Let’s hope that from all this nonsense and disorder something good will surface. Many people are skeptical that it is possible. However, Elon Musk is confident. Let’s see who will be right in the end.
