Twitter twists continue: Reports say thousands of contract workers cut
(NewsNation) — It’s been another week of mayhem on Twitter. The unveiling of a blue checkmark subscription option unleashed a torrent of parody and imposter accounts. Now, there are reports of up to 5,500 contract workers being cut on the heels of the massive layoffs of around half of Twitter’s entire staff.
New owner Elon Musk has said bankruptcy is a possibility. And some believe, the end is near.
“He’s done about everything wrong that I can think of in an acquisition, alienated all the employees, got rid of all management,” Tech analyst Robert Enderle said. “He’s got enough money to run through the end of the year I think. I don’t think Twitter survives unless something major happens. I don’t think Twitter survives much beyond that.”
Among the latest to go are contractors who focused on content moderation.
“It comes down to safety. It comes down to hate. It comes down to lies. But it also comes down to is Twitter going to protect the private, non-publicly available information of their users,” media and tech advocate Jessica Gonzalez said.
Many users are migrating to Mastodon, a German platform which grew to over a million users last week. But some say Mastodon is not as user-friendly. Plus, the audience is miniscule compared to Twitter’s 238 million.
“What Musk has done has he opened a huge opportunity for somebody to step in with something better because people are looking for something better. But it’s got to be well moderated, it’s got to be well equipped, so it doesn’t crash,” Enderle said.
An advertising exodus of Twitter is also ongoing with many brands viewing the platform as too unstable and uncertain. Ads accounted for nearly 90% of Twitter’s $5 billion revenue last year.