Twitter reportedly sued over plans to fire half its workforce

Twitter has been sued over plans to fire approximately 3,700 employees following Elon Musk‘s controversial takeover of the platform, it has been reported.

According to Bloomberg, a class-action lawsuit was filed yesterday (Thursday, November 3) in the San Francisco federal court. It’s said that Twitter intends to begin laying off staff today (November 4).

The figure of 3,700 workers constitutes half the employee strength at the company. Per Business Today, Twitter has already sent out emails to members of staff to notify them about the mass layoffs.

It read (via The Guardian): “In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday.”

Some employees have been removed from internal communication channels such as Slack and the office email. Additionally, Twitter staff were asked to stay at home and those who were on the way to work were asked to go back.

The company has also revoked access of the employees to their buildings. Twitter is yet to comment on the reports.

Musk – who is also the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla – is attempting to make the social media platform profitable, having purchased it for $44billion last month. He initially offered to buy the site back in April.

Since acquiring Twitter, Musk has shared plans to charge verified users $8 (£7) a month to keep their blue tick accounts.

“Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday (November 1).

For the new monthly fee, Musk also said that verified users will get “priority in replies, mentions and searches” as well as the ability to post long videos and audio clips to their profiles.

Meanwhile, hate speech reportedly spiked on Twitter following Musk’s acquisition. He has previously described himself as a “free speech absolutist”.

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