A former Nasa expert who lost his job at Twitter has criticised the company's mass layoffs, warning that the platform could become 'more toxic' as a result. Chris Younie, who worked in entertainment partnerships in the UK, was among thousands of employees sacked with little notice as new owner Elon Musk slashed nearly half the workforce.
Younie tweeted: 'Well this isn’t looking promising. Can’t log into emails. Mac won’t turn on. But so grateful this is happening at 3am. Really appreciate the thoughtfulness on the timing front guys.' His comments came as staff reported being locked out of their laptops and company systems.
The cuts, estimated at 50% of Twitter's 7,500 global staff, come just days before the US midterm elections. Reports suggest the entire curation team, responsible for countering misinformation, has been affected. One moderator warned of a risk that content could become 'more toxic' with less healthy information to counter disinformation.
Musk admitted a 'massive drop in revenue' as brands including Audi, General Motors, General Mills and Pfizer paused advertising over concerns about content moderation. Advertising accounts for 90% of Twitter's revenue. Musk blamed 'activist groups pressuring advertisers', accusing them of 'trying to destroy free speech in America'.
Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of safety and integrity, said the layoffs affected about 15% of his team, with frontline moderators least impacted. However, other groups dissolved include the human rights team and machine learning and algorithmic ethics teams. The public relations team has also seen deep cuts.
