Twitter has launched a large-scale layoff program, and thousands of people are expected to lose their jobs. Twitter's new boss, Elon Musk, has defended this, saying the company has suffered a significant drop in revenue as advertisers flee the social network.
Twitter employees have received layoff notices in their inboxes one after another, "Today is your last working day at the company." The global layoffs are expected to affect 3,700 jobs or about half of the company's workforce. Some outgoing employees said they would receive at least two months of severance pay. Musk is also looking for places to cut jobs in Twitter's technology infrastructure.
Musk tweeted on Friday defending the layoffs. He said pressure from advocacy groups caused advertisers to suspend spending on Twitter, leading to a sharp drop in Twitter's revenue. "Even though we haven't made any changes to content moderation and have done everything we can to appease these activists. Extreme chaos! They're trying to destroy freedom of speech in America," Musk said.
Musk did not specify how much revenue the company lost as advertisers fled, or how he blamed pressure from rights groups for the losses. For now, major companies including General Mills, Audi, and General Motors have said they will temporarily halt ad spending on Twitter to see how things change under Musk's helm.