Twitter mass layoffs begin after Elon Musk takeover

Twitter told staff in an internal message that employees would be notified about their "role at Twitter." 

"In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday," said the leaked memo. 

US media reported that half of Twitter's employees are at risk of losing their job, amounting to some 3,700 posts in total.

Current and now-former employees of Twitter took to the social network following the start of mass layoffs on Friday. 

Twitter's offices were temporarily closed on Friday, according to the memo, seemingly in a bid to prevent protests.

A group of employees who had recently been laid off filed a class action lawsuit against Twitter on Thursday. They are arguing that they had not received the 60-day notice period required by US federal and California state law. 

At least one California lawyer said she is in contact with fired Twitter employees considering a class action lawsuit. 

New boss

Employees had long hailed the social media giant's open corporate culture, but the job cuts had long been expected.  

Twitter's new boss, billionaire Elon Musk, dissolved the company's board and fired its top managers shortly after he completed his $44 billion (around €45 billion) acquisition last week.

Musk, who also owns SpaceX and Tesla, has been vocal about wanting to make big changes in Twitter. 

He is currently trying to promote a subscription service, where users who pay around $8 per month can have Twitter's "blue check" verification mark on their profile. 

During a midterm campaign rally on Friday, US President Joe Biden said Musk had purchased a social media platform "that spews lies all across the world."

"There’s no editors anymore in America. There’s no editors. How do we expect kids to be able to understand what is at stake?" Biden said.

fb/nm (dpa, Reuters)