News/Commentary

Elon Musk has words of caution to woke advertisers and disgruntled employees

November 5, 2022 | | Print Article

Just one week after ascending to the throne of “Chief Twit,” Elon Musk is defending his decision to show half of Twitter’s 7,500-person workforce the door, claiming the company is bleeding $4 million per day.

The news comes as the social media platform is experiencing a “massive drop in revenue” due to a string of advertisers who are bowing to the pressure of woke activist groups and boycotting the Bird.

The ink had barely dried on Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter, when the Tesla founder announced the employee layoffs, sparking a flood of liberal tears and a class-action lawsuit.

“Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day,” Musk tweeted on Friday. “Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.”

 

Employees learned their jobs were in jeopardy via an email that informed them they would know whether or not they still worked at Twitter by 9 a.m. PDT (noon EDT), according to The Associated Press. The email stated that the cuts were “necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward.”

On Thursday evening, workers used the hashtag “#OneTeam” and began posting that they had been locked out of their computers.

Some claimed that entire teams were dismissed, prompting fears from the left that total anarchy will surely be next.

 

Also on Thursday, a lawsuit was filed in San Francisco alleging that the California-based company violated federal law by failing to provide the required notice of the layoffs.

“As of Friday, Musk and Twitter had given no public notice of the coming layoffs, according to a spokesperson for California’s Employment Development Department,” AP reports. “That’s even though the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification statute requires employers with at least 100 workers to disclose layoffs involving 500 or more employees, regardless of whether a company is publicly traded or privately held.”

Meanwhile, activist groups have launched a full-on financial assault against Twitter, pressuring big-name advertisers to boycott the platform — a move Musk vows will end in “shame.”

“Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists,” Musk tweeted on Friday. “Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.”

As American Wire reported, Pfizer, General Mills, Audi, and Mondelez International — makers of Oreo cookies — have all announced they are temporarily suspending their advertising on Twitter over supposed fears that the platform will devolve into a den of hate speech and misinformation.

This despite the fact that Musk has repeatedly stated that nothing has changed with respect to content moderation.

“Again, to be crystal clear, Twitter’s strong commitment to content moderation remains absolutely unchanged,” he tweeted Friday. “In fact, we have actually seen hateful speech at times this week decline *below* our prior norms, contrary to what you may read in the press.”

In response to news of the advertising exodus, one user suggested that Musk name those who are suspending their ads “so we can counter-boycott them.”

“Thank you,” replied Musk. “A thermonuclear name & shame is exactly what will happen if this continues.”

The NAACP and GLAAD joined more than 40 organizations and penned an open letter urging Twitter’s top 20 largest advertisers to pull their advertising money from the platform, Fox Business reports.

“We know that brand safety is of the utmost importance to you,” the letter reads. “As such, you also have a moral and civic obligation to take a stand against the degradation of one of the world’s most influential communications platforms, and to hold Musk to the pledge he made to you to ensure that Twitter is a welcoming and civil place for everyone.”

Musk fired back with his own letter to the advertisers, including the chief executives of Amazon, Anheuser-Busch, Apple, Capital One, CBS, CenturyLink, Coca-Cola, Comcast, Best Buy, Disney, Google, HBO, IBM, Merck, Meta, Mondelez International, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Verizon.

“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” he stated. “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”

While Musk clearly feels he is under attack from both sides of the political aisle, at least one journalist, David Marcus, says the billionaire should be applauded for his Twitter efforts.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Marcus called out the advertisers for their blatant hypocrisy.

“Just hours after Musk took the helm of the Blue Bird General Motors announced it would suspend advertising on the platform,” Marcus writes. “Stunning? Brave? No, stupid.”

“This is the same General Motors that has Mark Tatum on its board of directors, he’s the Chief Operating Officer of the National Basketball Association, an organization that is in bed with the slave holding autocracy in China,” he continues. “Will GM refuse to advertise on broadcasts of the NBA finals? Don’t hold your breath. But they’re more than willing to hold Musk hostage, over potentially letting the bad Orange Man, Donald Trump back on the platform.”

According to Marcus, Musk is simply doing business in the “real world.”

“Now that a true businessman and visionary is in charge, there’s gonna be change. That’s how the real world works,” Marcus stated. “Elon Musk’s primary task at Twitter is not to turn it from blue to red, but from in the red to in the black.”

Melissa Fine
Latest posts by Melissa Fine (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles