UNITED STATES: Billionaire Tesla owner and current owner of social media platform Twitter, Elon Musk, has denied a New York Times report which claims that he plans to lay off Twitter employees before the start of the next month to avoid handing large cheques as payouts.
Elon Musk denies reports of sacking Twitter employees to avoid payouts
Journalist and editor at ProPublica news media, Eric Umansky, tweeted out an excerpt from a New York Times article entitled “Elon Musk Is Said to Have Ordered Job Cuts Across Twitter.”
The extract revealed that the mass sacking would take place on November 1, following which personnel would be granted “stock grants as part of their compensation,” which typically form a “significant portion of employees’ pay.”
Umansky captioned the tweet, “What a guy. [Elon Musk] is making sure to fire people at Twitter before part of their year-end compensation *kicks in on Tuesday*.”
Replying to the report, Musk tweeted, “This is false.”
Just last week, the billionaire business magnate completed his $44bn (£37.9bn) takeover of the social media platform after several months of legal clashes.
The acquisition of the social networking company by the eccentric tycoon witnessed a steady exit of the firm’s top executives and bosses- including its CEO Parag Agrawal, chairman, and finance chief.
Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that Musk had authorised major job layoffs across Twitter’s workforce.
Post Musk’s Twitter takeover, netizens have expressed concerns about the public platform’s stringent policies on hate speech and fake news circulation, fearing that the advocacy of free speech would mean lenient punishment or smooth return of people banned for hate speech or disinformation.
However, Musk has ensured that the platform would not be allowed to run as a public space for hate and division to fester. “Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hell-scape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” he tweeted.
Musk continued his tirade against unsubstantiated news reports of employee layoffs by tweeting another New York Times headline and slamming it as “fake.” He tweeted a screenshot of the article headline about him allegedly posting a link to a “site known to publish fake news.”
The New York Times headline referred to a previous incident when Elon Musk had replied and then deleted it, during the weekend, to a tweet shared by former U.S. Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton.
His reply contained the link to a suspected conspiracy theory connected to the recent assault on Paul Pelosi, the husband of U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Moreover, Musk also clarified alleged reports of Twitter users paying $20 per month to retain the coveted so-called “blue checkmark,” which affirms the legitimacy of the social figure on the platform.
“Whole verification process is being revamped right now,” Musk said without giving further details. Recently, Musk also began a new Twitter poll to survey the users on whether he should revamp the short-video app Vine.
Vine is a service introduced by Twitter back in 2012, which allowed users to share six-second looping videos. Vine’s popularity eventually waned as newer apps like Snapchat and TikTok took center stage.
Also Read: Elon Musk’s ‘Everything’ App: The Super Alluring Dream
