Twitter chaos
Elon Musk sells houseplants to save Twitter – and now needs bodyguards in his own office
There is mistrust between Twitter boss Elon Musk and the remaining staff. Meanwhile, there is apparently a lack of money everywhere.
© Brendan Smialowski
Twitter still doesn’t seem to have calmed down – and there’s a bad atmosphere between employees and their boss. In addition to the money worries, mistrust is apparently added.
In fact, a current report by the “BBC” because Twitter is no longer able to ensure order on the platform due to an acute lack of staff. Trolls and people with bad intentions are currently open to the public. The “Financial Times” reports that the situation is now also preoccupying the EU, which is to demand that Musk hire more content moderators again. At first, the billionaire wanted to tackle the problems with artificial intelligence and volunteers, but this is apparently not enough for the authorities.
However, there is more to the “BBC” report, which several current and former Twitter employees have poured out their hearts to has not calmed down. On the contrary.
With personal protection to the toilet
There is an atmosphere of distrust between Elon Musk and the remaining Twitter employees. It has now gone so far that Musk only moves through the offices with two bodyguards, who are even supposed to accompany the billionaire to the toilet. Observers describe the bodyguards as “strong” and “big”. Hollywood footage.
Measures to ensure the safety of high-level executives are by no means uncommon. The Facebook parent company Meta alone currently spends 14 million US dollars a year on this a document at the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows. Normally, however, these measures are only necessary when said managers are not in their own office.
But it’s different on Twitter, as a developer who spoke to the “BBC” revealed. At no time did Musk trust the employees at Twitter – and that is reflected not only in the security measures, but also in the daily work there, they say. Musk often brings engineers and developers from his other companies – Tesla or Spacex – with him when it comes to evaluating programming work done by Twitter employees. This is a burden for insiders, because the code is complex and you actually need “months” to understand it.
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Meanwhile, the work environment is apparently crumbling at a breathtaking pace. As soon as Musk came on board with Twitter, it was clear that he needed money – and lots of it. This is also related to the high purchase price and enormous interest on loans that are a burden on Twitter.
The measures Musk took to fill the coffers are partially known. More than two thirds of all employees have now had to leave, some bills remain unpaid, rents are outstanding, offices have been cleared. Musk seems to want to keep the headquarters in San Francisco and New York, but it’s not particularly nice there anymore.
Musk sells everything, including plants
In mid-January, Musk sold large parts of the equipment, including furniture, coffee machines, company logos, technical equipment and almost the entire canteen (Elon Musk clears Twitter headquarters). The insider told the BBC that Musk even attempted to sell the houseplants to employees for a profit. “If you look at it from the outside, the facade looks good, but I experience that nothing works. All the water pipes are broken, all the taps, everything. For someone who is inside, it’s like a building with all parts burn,” he describes the situation.
Reports about the desolate situation in the remaining workrooms are also not new (it’s smelly on Twitter). But it’s clearly becoming a permanent condition. After Musk fired maintenance and cleaning staff, no alternative solution seems to have been found to this day. The company’s New York headquarters has been suffering from a serious plague of cockroaches since mid-January, reports “Business Insider“. Musk’s solution? Twitter plans according to “Bloomberg“To let large parts of the rooms to other companies.
The decisions of the past few months could soon catch up with Musk, because Twitter and him are threatened with countless lawsuits from creditors and former employees who are still waiting for their money – worldwide. Lawsuits for protection against unfair dismissal are also piling up in Germany. In addition, there are authorities from all over the world who are concerned about the lack of moderation.
It is all the more astonishing that Musk loudly “Financial Times” expects to be in the black as early as the coming quarter. Because many of his savings are based on not paying bills – this also applies to server costs at Amazon. While Musk proudly announces to the outside world that he has saved 40 percent of the costs in this segment in reality he is said to have simply not transferred any more money to Amazon – which, according to “the information” could also take revenge in the future. Coupled with the huge drop in advertisers, it remains questionable how Musk intends to turn the corner without derailing the entire company.