A large number of Twitter contract workers found that they were suddenly let go this weekend because they no longer had access to the Twitter chat tool Slack and other work systems, according to internal communication logs shared by full-time Twitter employees.
Elon Musk’s Twitter account
According to technology news site Platformer, sources from Twitter say it has terminated the contracts of 4,400 contract workers, or 80 percent of the total 5,500 contract workers. The layoffs will have a significant impact on the content review and core infrastructure services that keep the site up and running.
Some of the Twitter contract workers are working overseas, including in India. Full-time Twitter employees said they did not receive any internal notice before the contract workers they worked with were let go. According to these employees, Twitter has fired all of its internal communications team. They also said bitterly that the media covering the company now acted as internal communications.
A company’s employees can be divided into regular employees, contract workers and outsourced staff. Both regular and contract workers are contracted directly with the company, but contract workers do not receive some of the company’s benefits, such as employee stock subscription plans, bonuses, departmental activities, etc. Outsourcing is a contract between a worker and a third party (staffing agency), and then the third party dispatches the worker to work for the company. The outsourced workers also do not receive any benefits from the company.
The firing of contract workers is the latest round of layoffs at Twitter. Twitter has already fired half of its workforce, about 3,700 people, after Elon Musk bought the company on Oct. 28.
Elon Musk has told the remaining Twitter employees that he sold billions of dollars worth of Tesla stock in order to “save” Twitter. It is unclear whether Elon Musk will continue to sell Tesla stock to pay off Twitter’s debt. He also told Twitter employees that there was a possibility of bankruptcy in the economic downturn. Advertisers have fled or suspended spending on the platform as Elon Musk and Twitter engage in a tug-of-war over acquisitions.
Twitter and Elon Musk have not yet commented.
