The layoffs at Twitter will begin on Friday

“We will begin the difficult process of downsizing our global workforce on Friday,” Twitter said in an email to its employees seen by AFP on Thursday, confirming rumors that have been circulating since Elon Musk bought the social network some time ago.

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The message said all employees would be notified by Friday morning, when business in California reopened, but did not specify how many people would be affected.

According to the Washington Post, the new leader plans to lay off 50% of the approximately 7,500 employees.

“We recognize that many people who have made significant contributions to Twitter will be affected, but this action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company’s future success,” the company told employees.

The boss of Tesla and SpaceX bought Twitter for $44 billion and took control last Thursday after a very eventful six-month acquisition.

He immediately disbanded the board of directors, fired the chief executive and other senior officials, and embarked on massive projects with goals to be achieved quickly. Many engineers reported having to sleep on site some nights.

Elon Musk, who first changed his name to “Chief Twit” (“Twit” means “cretin” in English), and then to “Twitter Hotline Operator,” brought in Tesla developers on Friday to review the work of Twitter employees.

Many engineers were forced to print the last lines of code they produced, according to one employee who spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to another employee, lists were also established that compared computer scientists against each other primarily based on production volume.

“The ongoing redundancy process is a travesty and disgrace. Tesla henchmen make decisions about people they know nothing about except the number of codes produced. This is complete nonsense,” tweeted Taylor Lees, director of the engineering team, who said he was fired.

On Thursday, most of the tweeting network’s employees were expressing their frustration or making jokes.

“The mass layoffs haven’t happened yet and yet everyone at Twitter has already lost their jobs. They know and appreciate the work described in their contract, the work they love, the work they do with all their colleagues,” said Eli Schutz, a Twitter IT specialist based in London, according to his profile.

“It’s the start of a blank slate, whichever side you fall on,” she added.

The move confirms a widely anticipated change in corporate culture for the California company under Elon Musk’s leadership.

Several executives resigned themselves this week, and more than 700 people have already left of their own accord this summer, an employee said.

Contrary to the approach of many employees, users and NGOs, the queer entrepreneur actually supports the vision of freedom of expression, which requires loosening the regulatory rules for the platform’s content.

Some employees worry about the idea of ​​no longer being able to work from home — Elon Musk doesn’t approve of teleworking — or follow a hellish pace, as at Tesla.

“If you are not affected, you will receive a notification on your Twitter email address. If you are affected, you will receive a notification in your personal email with next steps”, refers to the message sent on Thursday, reminding everyone to check their mailbox “including your spam”.