Xorte logo

News Markets Groups

USA | Europe | Asia | World| Stocks | Commodities



Add a new RSS channel

 
 


Keywords

2022-11-24 22:03:56| Engadget

Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk says a "general amnesty" for banned accounts will begin next week for those who "have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam." He polled users on whether Twitter should offer the amnesty, seemingly overlooking the fact that such polls can be easily gamed by bots. Over 72 percent of the 3.2 million votes approved of Musk's amnesty proposal. Musk reinstated Donald Trump's account last weekend after a similar poll. Trump has yet to tweet after getting his account back, though he has continued to post on his own app, Truth Social. Late last week, Musk restored the accounts of comedian Kathy Griffin (who had been needling Musk before her account was suspended), right-wing provocateur Jordan Peterson and conservative satire website Babylon Bee.The people have spoken.Amnesty begins next week.Vox Populi, Vox Dei. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2022The latest twist in the Twitter saga comes a day after the company fired another 50 or so engineers without notice, according to reports. They were dismissed just after the company started a code review program, whereby engineers are asked to submit samples of their work on a weekly basis. Dozens of engineers were fired by email the night before Thanksgiving because their code is not satisfactory, according to The Verge's Alex Heath.Others received a warning about their performance. Note that not meeting expectations could result in your termination of employmentplease use this opportunity to restore our confidence and demonstrate your contributions to the team and company," that warning email read.The fired engineers were reportedly offered four weeks of severance pay if they sign a separation agreement and waive any claims against Twitter. They had remained at the company after Musk laid off around half of the workforce. Last week, he asked the remaining employees to commit to working at his vision for an "extremely hardcore" Twitter 2.0. Those who opted out (around 1,200 of the 3,900 who were still at the company as of early last week) were let go with the promise of three months of severance pay.The latest batch of firings occurred just two days after Musk is said to have told employees that layoffs were done and that Twitter is hiring, with a focus on "people who are great at writing software." One of the engineers Twitter turfed out on Wednesday is Ikuhiro Ihara, who led the drive to double the tweet character limit to 280 back in 2017. Twitter also let go Ying Xiao, a senior staff machine learning research scientist who a colleague described to Platfomer's Zoë Schiffer as the best ML modeler around. It appears that some of the fired engineers were on H1B visas and now face a race to find a new job if they want to stay in the US.One of the people fired Musks latest purge was Ikuhiro Ihara, a highly respected senior software engineer who helped lead the push to expand tweets to 280 characters. https://t.co/6NYEV2Pl4b Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) November 24, 2022Schiffer also reported that Twitter cut holiday pay for its remaining contractors right before a holiday weekend. That move came not even two weeks after the company culled thousands of its contractors. Musk is said to have slashed perks for employees this week too, including daycare allowances, home internet costs and training effectively cutting workers' compensation packages.These measures are part of Musk's intense push to slash costs at Twitter, which owes at least $1 billion in annual interest payments on the loans he took out to help buy the company. Earlier this week, it was reported that Twitter has been stiffing vendors and contractors on payments, with some owed millions of dollars in back pay. Twitter no longer has a communications department that can be reached for comment.Have a great Thanksgiving! Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2022


Category: Marketing and Advertising

 

Latest from this category

04.07Otriums AI models give unsold fashion a second chance
03.07Top 10 Favorite Creator-Led Brands [Infographic]
03.07AI Update, July 3, 2025: AI News and Views From the Past Week
03.07The Power of Emotional Advertising in B2B Brand-Building: Feelings vs. Function
03.07In Relooted, gamers plan the perfect heist to reclaim Africas stolen artifacts
02.07The State of Hybrid Work
02.07Thought Leadership for Lead Generation: A Smart Key for Unlocking Transformational Growth
01.07Eight Less Traditional Ways People Are Using AI at Work
Marketing and Advertising »

All news

05.07Today's Headlines
05.07Labour might be down, but it's not necessarily out - voters reflect on a year in power
05.07Council tax plan could 'reduce' help for poorest
05.07Charity warns of unprecedented food demand
05.07Plans for Tru by Hilton hotel advance near I-80, La Grange Road exchange
05.07How to avoid creating AI zombies in your workplace
05.07Crying at work: A sign of strength, weakness or just being human?
05.07Today in History: Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act
More »
Privacy policy . Copyright . Contact form .