Elon Musk Fires Twitter Employees Who Criticized Him (Published 2022)

Mr. Musk, who is rapidly transforming the social media company, also has cut its contractor work force.

Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, ordered the firings of nearly two dozen employees who had pushed back publicly and privately against him.Credit...Maja Hitij/Getty Images

Nov. 15, 2022

SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk continued cutting Twitter’s work force in his third week of owning the social media company, firing employees who had criticized him and eliminating contractors.

Early on Tuesday, Mr. Musk’s team ordered nearly two dozen Twitter employees who had pushed back publicly and privately against him to be fired, three people with knowledge of the matter said. The billionaire, who completed a $44 billion acquisition of Twitter last month, later confirmed the exits on the platform and mocked the former employees.

The firings followed cuts to Twitter’s contract work force over the weekend. Many of the contractors work on content moderation and data science and were let go without notice, five people familiar with the matter said.

Mr. Musk has moved quickly to transform Twitter as he has painted a grim picture of its finances. He laid off half the company’s 7,500 workers this month, while pushing remaining employees to quickly build and launch new products. Last week, he said Twitter faced the possibility of bankruptcy and needed to become more “hard core” to survive. Mr. Musk plans to reorganize the company to eliminate middle managers, six people familiar with the matter said.

At the same time, Mr. Musk has sought to keep Twitter’s staff motivated. On Monday, he sent employees a brief message, which was viewed by The New York Times, explaining that “exceptional amounts of stock would be awarded for exceptional performance.” Mr. Musk likened the structure to how things worked at SpaceX, his private rocket manufacturer, but provided no further details.

Twitter has been under financial pressure as some advertisers have backed away from it. Macy’s has paused its advertising spending on the platform, a person familiar with the decision said. The fashion company Balenciaga deleted its Twitter account. And Omnicom Media Group, whose agencies represent companies such as PepsiCo and McDonald’s, urged its clients to halt their activity on Twitter in a memo citing risks that have “risen sharply to a level most would find unacceptable,” a person familiar with the memo said.

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Ryan Mac is a technology reporter focused on corporate accountability across the global tech industry. He won a 2020 George Polk award for his coverage of Facebook and is based in Los Angeles. More about Ryan Mac

Mike Isaac is a technology correspondent and the author of “Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber,” a best-selling book on the dramatic rise and fall of the ride-hailing company. He regularly covers Facebook and Silicon Valley, and is based in San Francisco. More about Mike Isaac

A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 16, 2022, Section B, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Twitter Cuts Continue as Musk Targets His Critics. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe