Twitter Employees Refuse Musk’s Ultimatum, Casting Future in Doubt
The future of Twitter appeared to be in doubt. Friday after Elon Musk, the company’s new owner, issued an ultimatum that resulted in its headquarters being locked down and several key staff announcing their exits.
Fears increased that a new exodus would imperil one of the most powerful online platforms in the world, which is used as a vital tool for communication by the global media, politicians, businesses, activists, and celebrities.
Numerous staff rejected Musk’s ultimatum that they be “very rigorous” or leave the company, according to former employees and media.
“My friends are gone, the future looks hazy, a storm is on the horizon, and there are no cash gains. How would you respond? Peter Clowes, who disregarded Musk’s ultimatum, tweeted.
Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has drawn criticism for making significant changes to the California-based company that he recently acquired for $44 billion.
In the midst of opposition and delays, he had already fired half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees, abandoned a work-from-home policy, and instituted excessive hours.
He failed miserably in his attempts to reimagine user verification with a contentious membership service, which resulted in a flood of bogus accounts and practical jokes and forced big advertisers off the network.
Musk reactivated previously banned accounts on Friday, including the one belonging to comedian Kathy Griffin, which had been deleted after she impersonated him on the website, showing that he appeared to be moving on with his plans.
Donald Trump’s return was not instantly greeted by Musk, who stated that a decision had not yet been taken on the previous leader’s return.
Trump was barred from office for encouraging a mob to attack the Capitol building in an effort to rig the 2020 US election results.
Though there was no apparent indication that he would follow the results of the impromptu poll, Musk hours later uploaded a poll to Twitter asking followers to vote “yes” or “no” on whether to “Reinstate previous President Trump.”
“Not very concerned”
According to Musk, rumours of the site’s impending collapse were fueling record-high activity on Twitter.
The billionaire, who was born in South Africa, wrote in a tweet: “Ironically, record numbers of users are signing in to see if Twitter is dead, making it more alive than ever!
The “best people are remaining, so I’m not really worried,” Musk continued.
Even with a badge, access to Twitter’s offices was temporarily blocked until Monday despite Musk’s assurances.
According to stolen emails published by The New York Times, Musk requested that crucial developers for the site come to Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco on Friday to speak with him in person.
Requests for comment on the new measure from AFP were not answered by Twitter.
Musk had given employees till Wednesday to confirm their commitment to “the new Twitter” by clicking on a link.
They would have lost their employment and received three months of severance compensation if they had not done so.
On Friday, there were more indications that government regulators were growing frustrated with Musk’s management of Twitter, particularly with the social media platform’s capacity to oversee material with a drastically decreased staff.
Musk’s ambitions for the website, according to a group of US senators, “undermined the integrity and safety of the platform… despite obvious warnings those alterations would be utilised for fraud, scams, and hazardous impersonation,” they claimed on Thursday.
Meanwhile, a senior European Union regulator asserted that Musk ought to be boosting, not decreasing, the number of moderators in the continent.
According to EU commissioner Thierry Breton, Musk “knows well well what the prerequisites are for Twitter to continue operating in Europe.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman stated that his government was examining its presence on Twitter and was “monitoring developments at Twitter with great worry.”
