Twitter employees have demanded Elon Musk “treat them with dignity”.
Staff at the social media giant have pushed not to be viewed as “pawns” in the 50-year-old billionaire’s game - after he outlined his intention to sack 75 per cent of the company - in an open letter.
The note - which has been viewed by Time magazine - reads: “We demand to be treated with dignity, and to not be treated as mere pawns in a game played by billionaires” as the Tesla founder forges on with his attempt to acquire the microblogging site for $44 billion.
It also said: “Elon Musk’s plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter’s ability to serve the public conversation,” repeating a claim first reported in the Washington Post, before saying “a threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users and customers’ trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation.”
Twitter has already laid off 30 per cent of its recruitment division and two big hitters, the ex head of Consumer Product Kayvon Beykpour and head of Revenue Bruce Falck.
Elon has teased that his purchase of Twitter is the first move towards creating an “everything app”, dubbed X, and inspired by ‘WeChat’.
The SpaceX founder also has implied that his version of the site will restore what he deems as ‘free speech’ and restore the posting privileges of banned users such as the former US President Donald Trump, who was removed after he was seen to have encouraged the deadly insurrection at the Capitol Building on January 6 2021.
Employees of the company have spoken out anonymously expressing doubts about Elon’s stated intentions with the site.
One said: “It seems to me that he wants to buy the Twitter name, then completely gut and change it.
“Speaking to people there, nobody feels safe in their job. I just don’t understand how it’s going to work as a company. There’s a mad attempt to restructure in some places to save face. It feels like the perfect time to try and get out — or prepare yourself for what’s going to happen.”
