Musk says he has ‘too much to do’ amid reports of more Twitter job cuts

Elon Musk said he had “too much work on my plate” as it was reported that Twitter had laid off more than 4,000 contractors working in areas such as content moderation and engineering.

Tesla’s chief executive and new owner of the social media platform told the B20 CEO conference in Bali that “my workload has increased a lot recently,” in apparent reference to its acquisition of $44bn (£37bn) from the social media platform on October 27.

“I mean, oh, man. I have too much work on my plate for sure,” he added, speaking via video link.

When asked what it felt like to be a “media mogul” after buying Twitter, he replied, “It’s media as opposed to media. But there’s no way to make everyone happy, that’s for sure.

Musk’s comments on Monday followed a report over the weekend that another Twitter job cut had affected 4,400 of the company’s 5,500 contract workers, according to Casey Newton, the author of the newsletter. Platformer technology industry.

Functions affected included content moderation, marketing, and “basic infrastructure services that keep the site running.”

The move follows the layoff of more than 3,700 full-time Twitter employees earlier this month, days after Musk took over the social media platform.

A contractor affected by the cuts, data scientist Melissa Ingle, said she learned of her fate on Saturday evening when her access to Twitter’s systems was suddenly cut off.

“Fired from Twitter on a Saturday night. No explanation, just all access removed. Happy Holidays to all!” she tweeted.

Sarah Roberts, an associate professor at the University of California and content moderation expert who worked as a researcher at Twitter earlier this year, told The Associated Press that removing contracted moderators would have a “tangible impact on the user experience. of the platform”.

Technology news site The Verge reported on Friday that Omnicom, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, has advised its clients to “suspend activity on Twitter at short notice” due to issues such as layoffs in Twitter’s trust and safety teams and an increase in “verified” fake accounts that had taken advantage of Musk’s offer of a blue check mark – validating an account as trustworthy – for $8 per month.

The subscription service was suspended on Friday after a series of controversial tweets by blue-tick accounts, including some high-profile brands impersonating them. Musk told Twitter staff that the company, which depends on advertising for 90% of its revenue, has suffered “a massive drop in revenue” due to the companies suspending spending.

Twitter has been approached for comment.

Musk also confirmed on Twitter that his satellite internet company Starlink bought ads on the platform to check its effectiveness. “SpaceX Starlink bought a small advertising package – not a big one – to test the effectiveness of Twitter advertising in Australia and Spain,” he tweeted, adding that Starlink had done the same for Facebook, Instagram and Google .

Earlier in his B20 appearance, the world’s richest man said he faced the challenges Tesla faced with “great difficulty”. This week, Musk is also expected to testify in a case brought by a Tesla shareholder against a $52 billion compensation award he was awarded in 2018.

“I’m really working the maximum I can from morning to night, seven days a week. So it’s not something I would recommend, frankly,” he said.