In his first address to Twitter staff on Thursday, the new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, warned about the possibility of Twitter’s Bankruptcy if the social media platform failed to generate more cash.
Before the bankruptcy announcement, confidence in the social media company had already begun to decline, with advertisers pulling back in concern about Twitter’s new plan for content moderation.
Musk’s $44 billion buy-out of Twitter put the platform in a $13 billion debt, with an interest payment that will surge to about $1.2 billion for 12 months. However, Twitter’s latest cash flow for the end of June fell short as it only reached $1.1 billion.
No Work from Home for Twitter Staff
Musk also issued multiple warnings to Twitter employees, including effectively ending the flexible work-from-home set-up that surged during the pandemic-era.
Elon Musk later clarified that outstanding employees could ask for exemptions, but he would personally review their requests.
In an interview, a staff member quoted Musk: “If you don’t want to come, resignation accepted.”
A person familiar with Musk’s management style noted that the threat of financial ruin was Musk’s strategy to motivate the staffs.
Twitter Executives Quit
Executives Yoel Ruth and Robin Wheeler, who tried to assuage the concerns of advertisers with Musk on Wednesday, have resigned.
In addition, Twitter CSO Lea Kissner also tweeted earlier on Thursday that she had quit. Meanwhile, an attorney from Twitter’s privacy team posted the resignation of CPO Damien Kieran and CCO Marianne Fogarty on the same day.
Chaos in Twitter’s New Verification Scheme
Musk’s attempt to filter out bots on Twitter failed dramatically as a new wave of verified impersonators emerged.
Twitter recently made the verifications purchasable for $8 a month, saying that it would make the authenticity mark equal for everyone. However, this made the blue check mark accessible to anyone willing to pay the $8 fee. As a result, fake accounts gained the ability to become verified, ultimately sparking chaos on the platform as they imitate influential people and organizations.
Among those who were impersonated were NBA star LeBron James, US President Joe Biden, technology company Apple, and the video game company Nintendo.
Although many of these fake accounts have already been suspended, they still managed to reach a broad audience, spouting conspiracy theories, misinformation, and obscenity, before the platform’s moderators could stop them.
