After laying off half its staff earlier this month, Twitter on Saturday began shedding its massive ranks of contract staff, sources confirmed to Axios. Why it matters: Like many companies, Twitter’s staff consists of a mix of full-time employees as well as contractors who work for third parties. Details: Twitter has cut an unspecified number of contractors in various areas, including content moderation, sources confirmed to Axios.
The status of many contractors has been in limbo since Twitter cut half its staff earlier this month, with some not even knowing who to report to as their counterparts within the company have been fired. Now some are worried about their bottom line salaries, as their teams no longer have full-time Twitter employees to sign their time cards, sources tell Axios. The contractor cuts were noted earlier Saturday by Platformer’s Casey Newton.
Between the lines: In at least some, if not all, cases, employees received no direct communication from Twitter saying their work was done.
Instead, they discovered that their access to Twitter’s computer systems had been shut down. This parallels the scene when full-time workers found out they lost their jobs, not from a promised e-mail on Friday, but on Thursday night as they lost access to e-mail and other company computer systems. Twitter has since tried to rehire some full-time employees after realizing their skills were critical to existing projects, including new features that were a priority for the company. Some contractors, meanwhile, are worried about getting paid for the past two weeks, as some contractors have ended up without full-time employees on Twitter, leaving no one to sign their time cards, sources tell Axios.
The big picture: Twitter has been in a state of turmoil since Elon Musk took over, with the products and features that followed.
This includes a new version of the Twitter Blue subscription service that allows subscribers to have the same blue checkmark on verified accounts of politicians, journalists, government agencies and celebrities. Twitter put it on hold earlier this week after a flood of impersonators used the subscription service to impersonate various brands and prominent athletes and politicians.
What they say: Melissa Ingle, a San Francisco-based content moderation contractor specializing in political disinformation, was among those cut.
Ingle, who has two master’s degrees and teaches data science skills, said she was surprised by the move and worried about providing for her family as the holidays approach. “I’m the kind of person you want in your company,” he told Axios. “That’s no way to treat people.” Twitter cut its entire communications staff and there was no immediate response to an email to the company’s press account.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional details about the contractors’ concerns.
