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TWITTER CEO ELON Musk has said he’s “not super worried” over the future of the platform after it continued to bleed engineers and other workers on Thursday after he gave them a choice to pledge to “hardcore” work or resign with severance pay.
According to reports in the US, the social media giant has also closed its offices until Monday over fears disgruntled staff could sabotage the company.
The Twitter boss had sent an email to staff on Wednesday asking them to click yes on a form to confirm they would stay at the company under his new rules, with those who did not by Thursday evening given three months’ severance pay.
But hundreds of workers are said to have rejected the ultimatum from Musk to sign up for longer, more intense working hours. Some employees took to Twitter to announce they were signing off after Musk’s deadline to make the pledge.
A number of employees took to a private forum outside of the company’s messaging board to discuss their planned departure, asking questions about how it might jeopardise their US visas or if they would get the promised severance pay, according to an employee fired earlier this week who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
The number of staff choosing to leave appears to have surprised Musk and his team.
The billionaire has now backpedalled on his insistence that everyone work from the office – his initial rejection of remote work had alienated many employees who survived the first round of layoffs.
And he softened his earlier tone in an email to employees, writing that “all that is required for approval is that your manager takes responsibility for ensuring you are making an excellent contribution”.
Workers would also be expected to have “in-person meetings with your colleagues on a reasonable cadence, ideally weekly, but not less than once per month”.
Concerns have been raised that the platform could struggle to stay online as large numbers of people tasked with its maintenance leave the company and that any issues that arise could take longer to fix without key engineers in place to handle such problems.
#RIPTwitter and #GoodbyeTwitter have been trending on the platform as users also consider leaving the site and some have begun pointing followers to their accounts on other platforms.
But in a tweet late last night, Musk said that he was not worried about resignations as “the best people are staying.”
The world’s richest man also shared a meme of a grave, appearing to mock the #RIPTwitter hashtag, which has been used hundreds of thousands of times.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
Twitter offices in Dublin and in other locations are understood to be temporarily closed, as some staff due to leave.
When asked about the office closure, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “it is very concerning what we’re hearing”, adding that the IDA is in “constant contact” with the company.
It is particularly concerning for employees, he added. “Employees of any company must be treated with respect and dignity,” said Martin.
Ireland has legal framework governing industrial relations and should be adhered to, he added.
“It’s unacceptable what’s happening within Twitter in terms of employees who must have a very uncertain future,” said the Taoiseach.
He said there is a need for for “coherence” and a “clear roadmap” as to what lies ahead for workers.
“We will work with all employees to see what we can do to help them, to be of assistance, and yes our laws will apply,” he said.
The newest round of departures from Twitter means the platform is continuing to lose workers just as it is gearing up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
It is one of the busiest events on Twitter that can overwhelm its systems if things go haywire.
“To all the Tweeps who decided to make today your last day: thanks for being incredible teammates through the ups and downs. I can’t wait to see what you do next,” tweeted one employee, Esther Crawford, who is remaining at the company and has been working on the overhaul of the platform’s verification system.
Since taking over Twitter less than three weeks ago, Musk has booted half of the company’s full-time staff of 7,500 and an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation and other crucial efforts.
He fired top executives on his first day as Twitter’s owner, while others left voluntarily in the ensuing days. Earlier this week, he began firing a small group of engineers who took issue with him publicly or in the company’s internal Slack messaging system.
The Tesla and SpaceX boss has continued to tweet throughout the ongoing turmoil, often mocking the concerns raised about the company by posting memes and jokes about the situation.
“How do you make a small fortune in social media? Start with a large one,” he joked.
He also claimed that the concerns were driving more traffic on the site, saying overnight the company had “just hit another all-time high in Twitter usage”.
Twitter did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Additional reporting from Jane Moore and Christina Finn
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London and Paris are just as complicit keeping Putin in power. They should freeze these billionaire oligarchs bank accounts and deport them and their faimilies back to Russia. English football needs to get their money from less dubious sources, or every football fan has a hand in keeping navalny in prison
@Clurichaun: absolutely…… But its Convenient to look the other way. The Russians have used nuclear weapon and biological weapon in the UK. But with brexit they will want Russian money. So the decent Russians are on their own.
@Clurichaun: Did you see the beating the French police were giving protesters yesterday? People on the ground were being birched with big sticks, it’s difficult to be critical when police in Paris & Catalonia are doing exactly the same.
@Joe Thorpe: hardly the same thing. The people of Russia want freedom from generations of corruption and political assassinations. The geniuses in France won’t follow basic public health advice while thousands die in hospitals
@Joe Thorpe: Well that’s yellow vest nut jobs. We have then here too G.O.D I’d buy the French police a beer if what you said is true.
If this happened in the USA the condemnation and screams would be heard from across the Atlantic. I always find it amazing how the Russians and Chinese generally get a free pass from The Western Media. Very strange.
@Crispy Brown: nail on the head mate, why no putin hatred here in Ireland or condemnation, irish people are so manipulated in their thoughts by the mainstream media its hilarious, no putin bashers no?, most Irish people probably don’t even know who he is, just thousands of people on here for months saying how much better off the world is now without Donald trump, yer a joke,
@Crispy Brown: day do not speakit de English
@Hugo Bugo: got one thing right BETTER OFF WITHOUT THE TWITTERING TWIT
One cold-war era trained Heavy, and his favourite acquired sidemen, will be incapable of halting the march of a nation towards true democracy and freedom.
And Navalny is the Leader to see this through, given his past independence from outdated and corrupt Sovereign Governance machine ruling that eleven time-zoned Country for over three decades.
English Electorate, please observe closely and learn for fear of slippage into similar undemocratic ways by your political masters.
@Rory J Leonard: maybe you should check Navalny’s track record before you start putting any hopes in him. Another ‘pro democracy’ merchant with questionable values to say the least. I am not a supporter of Putin either
@alan: track record? Post. But not from Pro kremlin government controlled media
Like him or hate him Russia needs a strong leader like Putin. If Russia was to fall into the hands of anarchists there be dire consequences for the rest of the world.
@Michael Maher: or into US stooges like Yeltsin. A man who brought the country to its knees.
@Eugene Norman: Correct the man was a drunk.
@Eugene Norman: The blame for Putin lies squarely on US shoulders and the West in general. They put Yeltsin in power and enabled oligarchs by privatising public companies so they could do easier business deals. They went back on their promise to Gorbachev not to bring any more countries into Nato in return for a peaceful German reunification. Gorbachev knew exactly how Nato expansion into satellite countries would be used to fuel paranoia in Russia and leverage political opportunities.They even helped write the Russian constitution to suit their own ends. They have destroyed Ukraine through interfering in its economic and political affairs and afforded Putin the opportunity to annex Crimea without breaking sweat. The West has no moral high ground when it comes to Putin. They are reaping what they sowed.
@Michael Maher: It has fallen into the hands of a KGB agent (Putin) and a want to be dictator (Trump)
Apparently no one believed them when they said a Russian oligarch owned the palace with a no fly zone and 2km avoidance zone on the black sea.
Before you jump to conclusions make sure you look into navalny, a far right nationalist should not be supported blindly because you have been told putin is bad doesn’t mean anti-putin is better
Bring back the red flag
have your say