Musk Drops Bomb: Time Is Ticking for Twitter Employees as He Gives Them Ultimatum, Deadline Thursday
Elon Musk says Twitter is a software and servers company at its heart and has asked employees to decide by Thursday evening if they want to remain a part of the business, according to an email sent by the company’s new owner to its remaining staff.
Musk wrote that employees “will need to be extremely hardcore” to build “a breakthrough Twitter 2.0″ and that long hours at high intensity will be needed for success.
Musk, who also heads Tesla and SpaceX, said the social media platform will be much more engineering-driven, with employees who write “great code” comprising the majority of the team.
The billionaire, who completed the $44 billion takeover of the San Francisco company in late October, fired much of its full-time workforce by email early this month.
He is expected to eliminate an untold number of contract jobs for those responsible for controlling the content on the platform.
A number of engineers also said on Twitter they were fired this week after criticizing their new boss, either publicly on Twitter or on an internal messaging board for employees.
Musk has vowed to ease restrictions on what users can say on the platform, ending what many have criticized as censorship of conservative views.
“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,” he wrote in an Oct. 27 message to advertisers.
At the same time, he reassured them there would be limits to what would be allowed on Twitter.
“Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” Musk said.
“In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature,” he said.
Dear Twitter Advertisers pic.twitter.com/GMwHmInPAS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022
Musk has also indicated that he plans to resume Twitter’s premium service — which grants blue-check “verification” labels to anyone willing to pay $8 a month — on Nov. 29. The billionaire said in a tweet that the relaunch would take place later this month in an effort to make sure the service is “rock solid.”
Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022
Musk asked workers to click yes on a link provided in the email if they want to be part of the “new Twitter.”
He said that employees had until 5 p.m. Eastern on Thursday to reply to the link. Employees who don’t reply by that time will receive three months of severance, according to the email.
Elon Musk Letter to Employees. 👏👏👏
No wonder why he builds great businesses ✌️@Tesla @SpaceX @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/rQ6VPNHkfH— Owen T Chiwandire (@OChiwandire) November 16, 2022
“Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful,” Musk wrote.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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