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Twitter Africa Employees Reportedly ‘Ghosted’ After Musk Fired Them
Jul
Twitter Africa Employees Reportedly ‘Ghosted’ After Musk Fired Them
Topline
Former employees of Twitter’s only office in Africa have reportedly been “ghosted” by the corporate and have still not received severance pay months after being laid off, CNN reported on Monday, adding to the platform’s growing personnel problem following Elon Musk’s takeover as competition with Meta’s Threads heats up.
Twitter is alleged to have ‘ghosted staff’ it has fired from their Ghana office.
Vital Facts
Terminated staff from Twitter’s office in Accra, Ghana, have still not received severance pay despite being fired as a part of Musk’s severe staff cull greater than seven months ago, based on CNN, citing several unnamed sources.
The platform laid off nearly all of its staff within the Ghanaian capital—around a dozen staff—just 4 days after the office opened in November, CNN reported, a few of whom had moved to Ghana for the job and relied on it to legally remain within the country.
Former employees, who spoke anonymously as a result of having signed non-disclosure agreements, told CNN they’d accepted Twitter’s offer to pay three months of severance, in addition to legal costs incurred during negotiations and repatriation costs for foreign staff.
The previous employees—who’ve since been settled at other locations after agreeing the terms—noted this was lower than what staff elsewhere were offered but said the corporate wore them down by being “non-responsive” and “ghosted” them until they’d agreed to its terms.
Carla Olympio, an attorney representing the previous employees, told CNN there was little progress since, adding that Twitter never finalized the offer and has maintained “complete silence” since May, shortly after the settlement was agreed.
A spokesperson for Ghana’s Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations told CNN it’s investigating the claims and Twitter responded to SME’ Request for comment using an automatic poop emoji.
The Key Background
Musk set about drastically reducing Twitter’s headcount almost immediately after he controversially acquired the platform for $44 billion in 2022. The cuts were deep—from 8,000 staff to around 1,500, a discount of around 80%—and Musk said he had no selection given the necessity to cut costs. Musk also made other unpopular platform changes, akin to changing the verification process, adding a paid platform, and overhauling the content moderation guidelines. This left users and regulators anxious that Twitter may not have the opportunity to take care of its platform or comply with its legal obligations. Since Musk’s takeover, advertisers have reportedly left the platform by the hundreds, ad revenues are down, and users are moving to rivals, notably neophyte competitor Threads. Tightly linked to Meta’s Instagram, Threads has managed to notch up greater than 100 million users in lower than per week and is shaping as much as be one in all Twitter’s biggest threats.
Watch Out For
Musk and Twitter have already been sued over mass layoffs. This includes the discrimination, refusal of bonuses and severance payments to employees. Courtney McMillian, the previous head of Twitter’s worker advantages program, filed a category motion lawsuit last week alleging the corporate has refused to pay not less than $500 million in pledged severance under a policy the corporate created in 2019. The lawsuit alleges that many Twitter employees received less or nothing in any respect, despite the agreement.
SME Valuation
$250.4 billion. That’s how much SMEEstimates Musk’s net value based on real time tracking. Musk’s fortune places him on the very top of SME’ list of the world’s richest people, respectively leading French luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the second and third richest people on this planet, by around $11 billion and $93 billion. Musk’s wealth largely comes from his stake in electric carmaker Tesla, a part of a cadre of helpful firms he cofounded that also includes rocket firm SpaceX, brain interface company Neuralink and tunneling enterprise Boring Company.
Read More
Musk says Twitter ads plummet as battle with Threads heats up (SME).
Laid-off Twitter Africa team ‘ghosted’ without severance pay or advantages, former employees say (CNN)
