Elon Musk seen for the first time since Twitter lawsuit was filed over mass layoffs after axing half company’s workforce
ELON Musk has been spotted at a shareholders' investment conference just hours after Twitter was sued over his plans to axe around half of its workforce.
The new head honcho was spotted at the Baron Investment Conference in on Friday morning, a day after a lawsuit was filed in a San Francisco court.
Roughly half of the 7,500-strong workforce (3,700) was laid off today, reports.
Staffers claim they were not given enough notice – which they say is in violation of state and federal law, according to Bloomberg.
It's also reported key members of the teams working on the US elections and content moderation are among those let go - just days before the midterms.
Sources told those who remain do not have access to critical tools used for certain content moderation decisions.
Another employee told she and other members of Twitter’s human rights team had been laid off.
She said she was proud of her team’s work “to protect those at-risk in global conflicts" and "defend the needs of those particularly at risk of human rights abuse by virtue of their social media presence";.
The employee named journalists and human rights defenders among those at risk.
It's now feared the job slash, as well as Musk's decision to charge people for 'blue tick' verification on Twitter, could make the platform a less trustworthy space for information on Election Day.
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Musk has, however, insisted Twitter users who are currently banned from the site will not be allowed to return for "at least a few more weeks".
It means the likes of former president Donald Trump - whose ban from the platform Musk has previously vowed to reverse - will not be able to access their profiles before the midterm elections.
In an email obtained by , the layoffs were set to begin today.
It said: “Team, In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday.
“We recognize that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but this action is, unfortunately, necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward.”
Several workers claimed they had been locked out of their email and Slack accounts today, reports.
One employee, who hasn't been identified, told : "It's total chaos, house melting down, everyone looking towards this email."
While, another staffer said: "At the end of this nightmare, I better get a cash prize."
has claimed that Twitter has seen a "massive drop in revenue".
It comes after Musk reportedly took away workers’ once-a-month day of rest.
People supposedly familiar with the matter confirmed the change to .
The report says that a monthly company day off, which was introduced during the pandemic period, is under the axe.
The billionaire has made several changes to the social networking giant already since taking over as CEO.
He also has plans to cancel Twitter's remote working policy.
He wants staff he hasn't culled in the office full-time so they can implement a host of changes he has for the site.
Musk completed the takeover of the social networking giant on October 27.
Announcing the completion of the deal, he tweeted: "The bird is freed."
But, the company's former CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal were fired.
Musk also axed the head of legal policy, trust, and safety Vijaya Gadde and Sean Edgett, who belongs to the company's general counsel, inside sources told .
He even changed his bio to "Chief Twit" before later describing himself as "Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator".
Musk had previously explained the reasons he wanted to take over Twitter.
He said: "The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.
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"I didn't do it because it would be easy. I didn't do it to make more money.
"I did it to try and help humanity, whom I love. And I do so with humility, recognizing that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility."
