We’re only two weeks since Elon Musk purchased Twitter, and it’s been nothing short of a freefall since. New Twitter CEO Elon Musk has warned that Twitter could face bankruptcy, while the Federal Trade Commission is observing the rapid changes to staff and processes with great concern.
Lea Kissner, former Twitter CISO, resigned in a tweet yesterday. Twitter’s privacy and compliance chiefs—including Head of Moderation and Safety Yoel Roth, and Chief Privacy Officer Damien Kieran—also quit.
And one more thing: Elon Musk officially announced that remote working is over.
This is all amidst Musk laying off 3,700 employees from a previous total of 7,500.
Legal fallout begins for Twitter and Musk
Several Twitter employees have filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Twitter is in violation of the federal and California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act).
The WARN Act requires that an employer with more than 100 employees must provide 60 days of advanced written notice prior to a mass layoff “affecting 50 or more employees at a single site of employment.”
The FTC continues to monitor the situation. “No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees,” said Douglas Farrar, the FTC’s director of public affairs.
Musk has said that Twitter suffered a “massive drop in revenue” last week, and was losing $4 million a day. A number of large corporate advertisers have suspended running ads amidst the fallout.
“There is no way to sugarcoat the message. The economic picture ahead is dire, especially for a company like ours that is so dependent on advertising in a challenging economic climate,” stated Musk.
Fake Twitter verified accounts causing confusion
Fake accounts are also having a moment on Twitter since the company debuted the revised Twitter Blue pay-for-verification feature. It allows any Twitter account—with no identification verification required—to instantly obtain the “Twitter blue checkmark” that previously meant the account was verified by a Twitter review board as authentic or official.
What many security researchers such as Rachel Tobac warned would become a disaster when it was first announced rang true as there have been countless fake accounts with newly-obtained verified checkmarks through Twitter Blue posing as LeBron James, George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Eli Lilly and Co., Elon Musk, and yes, even Jesus.
It’s become a complete mess and causing mass confusion.
Twitter had rolled out an “Official” sub-label under an account’s username on their profile page to denote accounts that were officially reviewed by Twitter but quickly rolled it back within hours.
Twitter has since turned the label back on since the faux account fiasco.
Twitter suspends new Twitter Blue registrations
As of 10:30am eastern, Twitter appears to have suspended new Twitter Blue registrations.
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