Twitter verges on collapse as workers quit en masse

Twitter workers reportedly quit by the hundreds Thursday after refusing to agree to billionaire CEO Elon Musk’s demand that they work longer hours as part of his self-described “extremely hardcore” plan to overhaul the social media platform.

As a result, the company that Musk purchased for $44 billion just weeks ago is in chaos as the mass exodus of employees and the billionaire’s earlier decision to fire roughly half of Twitter’s workforce are threatening basic, day-to-day operations at the platform used by hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Citing people familiar with the rapidly deteriorating situation inside Twitter, The Washington Post reported that “the number of engineers tending to multiple critical systems had been reduced to two, one, or even zero.”

“In an early sign that the number of those declining to sign was greater than anticipated, Musk eased off a return-to-office mandate he had issued a week ago, telling employees Thursday they can work remotely if their managers assert they are making ‘an excellent contribution,'” the Post added. “But it was too late to keep Twitter from a precarious position, several workers said.”

One worker told the newspaper that “there is no longer even a skeleton crew manning the system,” meaning the platform “will continue to coast until it runs into something, and then it will stop.”

“As a lot of freelancers have been saying, if Twitter goes down, our livelihoods suffer,” tweeted labor journalist Kim Kelly. “Twitter is where I share my work, promote my book, and connect with editors, sources, other journalists, workers, activists, and organizers. We all know no corporate media outlet is gonna hire me.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who has 13.5 million Twitter followers, connected the possible collapse of the platform to sky-high income and wealth inequality and policymakers’ refusal to tackle it via higher taxes on billionaires like Musk.

“If only we had taxed the rich,” the New York Democrat wrote, “maybe none of this would have happened.”

Musk had given Twitter employees until 5:00 pm ET Thursday to accept his condition of longer work hours or leave the company and receive three months of severance pay. Hundreds of employees, including some in charge of important operations, appear to have chosen the latter.

The New York Times reported late Thursday that Musk and his top advisers “held meetings with some Twitter workers whom they deemed ‘critical’ to stop them from leaving” and “sent out confusing messages about the company’s remote work policy, appearing to soften his stance on not allowing people to work from home before warning their managers.”

“Twitter later announced via email that it would close ‘our office buildings’ and disable employee badge access until Monday,” the Times noted.

Jessica González, CEO of the advocacy group Free Press, said in a statement Friday that “Musk has swiftly decimated Twitter’s ability to maintain the platform’s integrity, health, and safety.”

Originally published at Commondreams.org.