Twitter says it fired 50% of the team; network reassures about content

Twitter has laid off 50% of its employees, the company’s head of security and integrity said Friday in a tweet, revealing that the social networking platform’s content moderation features remain in place.

Security and integrity chief Yoel Roth’s tweet was meant to reassure users and advertisers after the company’s acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk.

Roth said 15% of Twitter employees on the Trust and Safety team, responsible for preventing the spread of misinformation and harmful content, have been fired. Across the company, the layoffs affected 50% of employees, he added, in Twitter’s first confirmation of the size of the layoffs.

With the US midterm election just days away, Roth said combating harmful disinformation remains a priority.

“Again, to be clear, Twitter’s strong commitment to content moderation remains absolutely unchanged,” Musk explained shortly after Roth’s tweet.

Earlier on Friday, Musk exposed that Twitter had experienced “a massive drop in revenue” as civil rights groups raised concerns about how the layoffs would affect moderation and pressured major advertisers to reduce their ad spend. .

Big brands like General Mills and General Motors said they stopped advertising on Twitter.