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Zenger
Zenger
National
Adam Eckert

Former Twitter Africa Employees Left Unpaid And Unheard After Layoffs Under Elon Musk’s Leadership

The Twitter account of Elon Musk is displayed on a smartphone with a Twitter logo in the background. Musk has slashed approximately 80% of Twitter's staff since he purchased the social media platform company for $44 billion last year. (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

When Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk took over at Twitter, he laid off a majority of the company’s workforce. Several former employees of Twitter Africa say they still haven’t been paid and the company has left them in the dark.

Musk has slashed approximately 80% of Twitter’s staff since he purchased the social media platform company for $44 billion last year.

According to a CNN report, employees from Twitter’s Africa business accepted the company’s offer to pay three months of severance among other expenses, but they still have not received any money more than seven months after being let go. Furthermore, Twitter won’t even communicate with the former employees.

“They literally ghosted us,” a former Twitter Africa worker reportedly said.

It gets worse — the deal wasn’t even that good. It was less than what Twitter offered to other exiting staff members and the Twitter Africa team members felt they were essentially forced into accepting it. 

“We were all so stressed and exhausted and tired of the uncertainty, reluctant to take on the extra burdens of a court case so we felt we had no choice but to settle,” one worker said.

It’s not just the former Twitter Africa team that’s having a hard time communicating with Twitter.

CNN reached out to Twitter for comment on the status of the severance package for the former employees and received a poop emoji response. Zenger News sent an email to the company’s media relations department and received the same poop emoji auto-reply. 

In this illustration photo taken on July 18, 2022 Elon Musk’s reply Tweet to Parag Agrawal, the then CEO of Twitter, showing a poop emoji is displayed on the screen of a smartphone with Musk Twitter page in the background. Earlier this year, Musk tweeted that all emails sent to press@twitter.com would automatically be answered with a poop emoji. (Chris DELMAS / AFP) (Photo by CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images) 

Earlier this year, Musk tweeted that all emails sent to press@twitter.com would automatically be answered with a poop emoji.

Twitter is also already facing several lawsuits accusing the company of failing to pay employee bonuses. Over the weekend, Musk acknowledged that Twitter’s cash flow is still negative as the result of a 50% decline in advertising revenue on top of “heavy debt.”

The company has been paying its creators though. In a new initiative from Musk, Twitter forked over thousands of dollars to numerous creator accounts over the past week as part of the company’s new ad revenue-sharing program

 

© 2023 Zenger News.com. Zenger News does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Produced in association with Benzinga

Edited by Arnab Nandy

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