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Former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey issues apology amid mass lay-offs

‘I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation,’ says Dorsey in a series of Tweets

On Saturday Jack Dorsey published a series of tweets in response to the lay-offs across Twitter’s workforce. Photograph: Francois Mori/AP

Gloria Oladipo in New York
Sat Nov 5 2022 - 20:05

Former Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey has gone on the platform recently acquired by billionaire Elon Musk to apologise for the state of the site, which has laid off thousands of workers.

On Saturday Mr Dorsey published a series of tweets in response to the lay-offs across Twitter’s workforce, which began on Friday. As many as half of the company’s 7,500 staffers could be axed since Mr Musk acquired the company for $44 billion last week.

[ More than half of Twitter’s 500 Dublin staff to be axed in ‘random and indiscriminate’ culling ]

“Folks at Twitter, past and present, are strong and resilient,” Mr Dorsey wrote. “They will always find a way no matter how difficult the moment. I realize many are angry with me.

“I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that.”

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Mr Dorsey added: “I am grateful for, and love, everyone who has ever worked on Twitter. I don’t expect that to be mutual in this moment … or ever … and I understand,” along with a heart emoji.

Response to Mr Dorsey’s comments have been mixed. Many users have blamed Mr Dorsey for issues at Twitter after being bought by Mr Musk.

“Oof. Too little. Too late,” wrote one user.

Another user wrote: “Dude, you suck.”

A number of divisions at Twitter suffered deep cuts or were eliminated altogether, including the company’s human rights and algorithm ethics teams.

At least one class-action lawsuit has been filed against Twitter on behalf of former employees who say they were not given adequate notice of their termination.

[ Twitter and Stripe have not informed Varadkar of layoff plans, says department ]

“Elon Musk has a history of violating California’s labour laws, as Tesla has been hit with a shocking number of sexual and racial harassment lawsuits,” said prominent lawyer Lisa Bloom, who confirmed to the Guardian that she has been in contact with several Twitter employees.

“His workers are human beings who are all entitled to respectful treatment. This time a hard-hitting class-action lawsuit will finally educate him that even the world’s richest man is not above the law.”

Mr Musk has defended the lay-offs, tweeting that fired employees are receiving three months of severance as the company reportedly loses more than $4 million a day.

[ Dublin Twitter staff ‘should consider resigning’ in solidarity with those laid off, fired employees say ]

But several companies have announced that they will no longer be advertising on Twitter amid fears that misinformation and hate speech will proliferate on the app as protections against each are scaled back.

Audi, General Motors, General Mills and other advertisers have halted ads on the site.

The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People and other groups have also pushed for advertisers to pause their spending on the site in the face of the hate speech concerns. – Guardian

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