Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) has confirmed it will begin laying off staff on today with up to 3,700 job cuts expected, half of the social media company’s workforce.
In an unsigned internal email workers were told: “In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday”.
Staff will find out whether they still have a job by 16:00 GMT on Friday via email.
“To help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data, our offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be suspended,” the memo added.
Widespread staff cuts have been rumoured ever since Elon Musk completed his $44bn takeover of Twitter last week. Senior executives were fired on the first day he took over.
Aside from the job cuts, Musk has said a verification charge could be added, as well as potential changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies, raising concerns about hate speech on the platform.
This uncertainty has led to a 500% increase in the number of people searching for how to delete Twitter in the past week, according to the Daily Mail.