Twitter layoffs begin, sparking a lawsuit and backlash

https://www.npr.org/2022/11/04/ [login to see] /twitter-layoffs-elon-musk
Long-dreaded layoffs are finally happening at Twitter, which has been owned by billionaire Elon Musk for just over a week. They have sparked a lawsuit from employees and a call for advertisers to boycott.

About 50% of the staff was cut company-wide, according to a tweet from Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of safety and integrity, the division responsible for monitoring tweets for violence, hate and other banned material.

"Twitter's strong commitment to content moderation remains absolutely unchanged," Musk tweeted Friday afternoon. He also said laid-off employees got three months of severance pay.

Jessica González, CEO of Free Press, which is part of the #StopToxicTwitter coalition, said she and leaders of more than 40 other groups met with Musk earlier this week.

"He promised to retain and enforce the election-integrity measures that were on Twitter's books before his takeover. With today's mass layoffs, it is clear that his actions betray his words," González said.