Elon Musk. Photo / Getty Images
Layoffs initiated by new owner Elon Musk have hit Twitter Australia-New Zealand hard, sparking fears internet safety could be undermined.
The firm had about 40 staff in its ANZ operation, based in Sydney, before Musk announced a round of global layoffs that began on Saturday.
The move is part of a global cull involving some 3700 staff, or roughly half the social network’s worldwide workforce, according to a New York Times report.
The global cuts hit across many divisions, including engineering and machine learning teams, sales, advertising, and the trust and safety teams managing content moderation including hate speech and misinformation.
“We know all too well the harm caused by online abuse and we also know that identifying and swiftly removing this content is key to reducing this harm,” the Australian Government’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, told the Herald.
“The approach of culling employees who have particular expertise in trust and safety functions, with intimate knowledge of how the platform’s policies and tools work, potentially undermines the company’s ability to combat abuse, misinformation and harms in the future.
“We are also concerned with the major cuts in Twitter’s global public policy team, which deals directly with Government agencies in Australia and New Zealand, could hamper regular and open communication with the company.”
Inman Grant added, “I imagine Kiwi policymakers will be canvassing some of the same issues and concerns.” Today, however, they had little or nothing to say (see comments at foot of story).
The job cuts have affected employees in Twitter ANZ’s government relations, marketing and news divisions, according to a report in The Australian.
The Sydney Morning Herald said Twitter ANZ has been left “a shell of its former self”.
The NZ Herald has asked Twitter Australia-New Zealand to verify numbers affected, and in what departments, but an email to the social network’s head of communications bounced back.
Twitter ANZ head of sales Jonathan Munschi told the Herald he could not comment. Several other Twitter ANZ staff also said they could not comment.
Twitter’s communications team has been “almost entirely laid off,” according to a New York Times report on the weekend.
Late Sunday, Munschi took to LinkedIn in a bid to drum up work for axed staff.
“We have incredible talents looking to start a new chapter across content, sales, marketing, and more. If you have positions available, I urge you to consider these legends,” he posted. The industry has shown many times its humanity, I’m counting on you all to show up once again.”
Several potential job offers emerged in comments after his post.
Musk appears to have tempered some public criticism by offering three months’ severance pay, which he has described as “50 per cent more than legally required”.
“Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day,” Musk tweeted over the weekend.
Last year, Twitter made a net loss of US$221 million, or US$605,000 per day.
Yesterday, Musk tweeted that “Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers.”
He did not quantify the drop.
Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.
The Times reported that several large companies, including Volkswagen, Carlsberg, outdoor equipment and apparel retailer REI and United Airlines had suspended Twitter advertising.
And some ad agencies had advised clients to pause Twitter ads, “amid growing fear that misinformation and hate speech would be allowed to proliferate on the platform under Elon Musk’s leadership,” the NY Times added.
REI said it decided to suspend ads on the platform “given the uncertain future of Twitter’s ability to moderate harmful content and guarantee brand safety for advertisers.”
Musk tweeted on November 5: “To be crystal clear, Twitter’s strong commitment to content moderation remains absolutely unchanged.”
However, Musk came under fire last week after tweeting a link to an article on a far-right conspiracy site that made baseless claims about the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of US Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The thread was later deleted, but not before the unfounded theory was repeated by Fox News host Tucker Carlson and several politicians.
Again, to be crystal clear, Twitter’s strong commitment to content moderation remains absolutely unchanged.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
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.
Musk’s US$44b (NZ$74.7b) purchase of Twitter involved US$12.7b of debt, which the Times said would cost the money-losing firm $1b per year to service.
Its new owner is looking to diversify revenue away from advertising and increase revenue overall by charging for Twitter’s blue verification tick.
In an update to Apple iOS devices available in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, Twitter said users who sign up now for the new “Twitter Blue with verification” can receive the blue check next to their names “just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow.”
A Twitter Blue premium subscription was formerly available for US$4.99 per month, offering perks such as the ability to upload longer videos.
Now, the price will include verification and the ability to make up to four edits to a tweet up to 30 minutes after posting it (a feature formerly only available in a limited trial).
“Widespread verification will democratize journalism & empower the voice of the people,” Musk tweeted this morning.
Formerly, a blue tick was given after Twitter had verified a user’s identity.
Musk says there will now be speedy “widespread verification”. He has yet to detail what steps will be taken to confirm a person or organisation’s identity.
Meanwhile, Musk created more headlines this afternoon NZT as he announced that parody accounts unless clearly marked as such, would be permanently suspended. Previous warnings would no longer be given.
Comedian Kathy Griffin - who has been recently skewering Musk - saw her account immediately suspended.
Griffin tweeted under the user name @kathygriffin but changed her handle to Elon Musk. Both names appeared beside her send-up posts.
Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022
Brent Carey, head of Netsafe, the lead agency for the Harmful Digital Communications Act, said he had no comment at this stage.
Communications Minister David Clark did not offer comment.
Justice Minister Kiri Allan did not offer comment specific to the Twitter cuts, but offered the general comment: “I’m committed to making progress on the laws against incitement of hatred and discrimination. Next steps will be announced before the end of the year.”
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