WASHINGTON: Tesla CEO Elon Musk threatened to name-shame the advertisers who are backing out from Twitter after the micro-blogging site announced mass layoffs.
Twitter fired roughly half of its 7,500-strong workforce, only days before next week's midterm elections in the United States, when a spike in fake content is expected across social media.
While replying to a user on Twitter, Elon Musk said, "Thank you. A thermonuclear name & shame is exactly what will happen if this continues."
Mike Davis, a user on Twitter said, "Dear @elonmusk: You have nearly 114,000,000 Twitter followers. Name and shame the advertisers who are succumbing to the advertiser boycotts. So we can counter-boycott them. And get your USD 8 monthly subscription going asap. So we can start to make up for lost revenue now."
In a series of tweets, Tesla CEO has blamed "activist groups pressuring advertisers" for a "massive drop in revenue" as the company engages in mass layoffs.
"Twitter had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They're trying to destroy free speech in America," he further tweeted.
Elon Musk defends layoffs, says Twitter losing over USD 4 million a day
Defending his decision over layoff of Twitter employees, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the micro-blogging site was losing more than USD 4 million per day.
Taking to Twitter, Elon Musk said, "Regarding Twitter's reduction in force, unfortunately, there is no choice when the company is losing over USD 4M/day. Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required."
"Again, to be crystal clear, Twitter's strong commitment to content moderation remains absolutely unchanged. In fact, we have actually seen hateful speech at times this week decline *below* our prior norms, contrary to what you may read in the press, he added.
On Friday, as per an unsigned internal memo seen by The Verge, Twitter employees were notified in an email that the layoffs were set to begin. Musk is expected to cut roughly half of Twitter's roughly 7,500-person workforce.
The entrepreneur's purchase of Twitter for USD 44 billion was completed last week and on that same day, he fired several of the company's top leaders, including the chief executive Parag Agrawal.
Musk had already indicated that he would make job cuts at Twitter, telling employees at a town-hall meeting this summer that there needs to be "a rationalization of headcount" at the social network.
Meanwhile, talking about the new changes in the micro-blogging site, Musk said in a tweet, "Again, to be crystal clear, Twitter's strong commitment to content moderation remains absolutely unchanged. In fact, we have actually seen hateful speech at times this week decline *below* our prior norms, contrary to what you may read in the press."
Earlier, Elon Musk, who closed the USD 44 billion twitter acquisition deal and took control of the micro-blogging platform, blamed "activist groups pressuring advertisers" for a "massive drop in revenue" as the company
"Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They're trying to destroy free speech in America," Musk said in a tweet.
The billionaire owner of Tesla tweeted that "activists" raising concerns about how Twitter is moderated are "trying to destroy free speech in America"
Advertisers abandon Twitter amid layoffs, Owner Elon Musk blames activist groups
Elon Musk, Twitter's new owner on Friday (local time) acknowledged that ad spending on the platform had slumped and blamed the drop on pressure from activists.
Tiffany Hsu, a tech reporter covering misinformation and disinformation, writing in The New York Times said that advertisers are pulling back amidst sweeping layoffs at the company.Advertisers also fear that misinformation and hate speech would be allowed to proliferate on the platform under Elon Musk's leadership.
Civil rights groups including GLAAD and the Anti-Defamation League held a conference call on Friday urging other companies to abandon Twitter due to mass layoffs gutting what they described as an already anemic content moderation staff, reported The New York Times.
The Volkswagen Group joined several other companies in recommending that its automotive brands, which include Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley and Porsche, pause their spending on Twitter out of concerns that their ads could appear alongside problematic content.
The Danish brewing company Carlsberg Group also said it had advised its marketing teams to do the same. The outdoor equipment and apparel retailer REI said it would also pause posts in addition to advertising spending "given the uncertain future of Twitter's ability to moderate harmful content and guarantee brand safety for advertisers."
Even Musk acknowledged the advertising slump, tweeting on Friday morning that Twitter "has had a massive drop in revenue," which he blamed on activist groups pressuring advertisers, reported The New York Times.
The first chaotic week of Musk's ownership of Twitter has given Madison Avenue whiplash, as advertisers struggle to reconcile the billionaire's promises to make the platform safe for brands with concerns about a surge of extremism and false narratives, including one promoted by Musk himself, said Hsu.
A minute before Musk posted his comment that "nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists", the ad-tracking platform MediaRadar released statistics showing that the number of advertisers on Twitter had dropped from May.
Twitter had 3,900 advertisers in May and 2,300 in August. The number rose to 2,900 in September, according to MediaRadar. The analytics company found that General Motors, which paused its spending on Twitter last week, had spent an average of USD 1.7 million a month on the platform.
There were more than 1,000 new advertisers on the platform each month before July, when Musk's feud with Twitter began to intensify and the number of new advertisers sank to 200, reported The New York Times.
Meanwhile, following Musk's tweet, a coalition of civil rights and activist groups called a news conference to push for a global advertising boycott of Twitter, said Hsu.