Elon Musk has defended firing half of Twitter’s 8,000 employees, saying “unfortunately, there is no choice.”
Musk insisted that the platform’s commitment to moderation “has not changed at all.”
He tweeted: “Regarding the layoffs at Twitter, unfortunately, when the company is losing more than $4 million a day, there is no choice.
“Everyone who quit was given three months of severance pay, which was 50 per cent higher than required by law.”
Earlier on Friday, Mr. Musk blamed activists for falling revenue, tweeting: “Twitter’s revenue has dropped significantly as activist groups pressure advertisers, despite no change in content moderation, we’re doing everything we can Appease activists.
“Extreme chaos! They are trying to destroy freedom of speech in America.”
One Twitter user said revenue was falling because Twitter had “the worst ad platform of any social media company,” to which Musk replied: “Agreed. Working on it.”
Just minutes before Musk’s tweet, Twitter’s head of security and integrity, Yoel Roth, said the layoffs affected 50 percent of the company’s workforce, including about 15 percent of its trust and safety unit.
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Frontline auditors were “minimal”, he said.
Last month, the company had begun reassuring staff that it had no plans for mass layoffs, following reports that Mr Musk wants to cut 75% of its workforce following his $44bn (£38.4bn) takeover.