Fired Twitter Employees Asked if They'll Come Back, Reports Say

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In a rather awkward U-turn, Twitter has reportedly started asking fired employees if they would be willing to return to the social network.

Platformer's Casey Newton said he had seen messages on the company's Slack that asked managers to nominate workers who could come back to work on its iOS and Android apps.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg says Twitter has been in contact with dozens of people who were dismissed on Friday because they were laid off by mistake.

The news outlet claims some of those given their marching orders were let go before it was realized "their work and experience may be necessary" for new features Elon Musk wants.

Twitter was always expected to make layoffs, even before Tesla's CEO swooped in to buy the social network in a messy $44 billion deal.

But the speed and extent of the cutbacks took many by surprise, with estimates suggesting that about 50% of Twitter's 7,500-strong workforce was let go — barely a week after Musk assumed the role of interim CEO and "Chief Twit."

Late on Friday night, Musk had defended the redundancies, tweeting:

"Regarding Twitter's reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day. Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required."

Despite this, some experts have warned that these redundancies may have broken employment law in some jurisdictions — namely the U.K.

According to Valla's co-founder and CEO Danae Shell, "any company looking to make over 100 people redundant are required to give 45 days' notice and consultation."

She noted that some of those laid off in the U.S. have already begun class action lawsuits, and predicted that there could be similar proceedings brought by British workers soon — writing:

"In addition to this, employees with over two years of employment could argue claims of unfair and/or constructive dismissal, both of which have additional financial awards."

Shell urged affected workers to make tribunal claims as part of a quest to hold the company accountable "for this capricious, cruel decision."

Big Changes Afoot

Musk's Twitter account right now is a constant feed that shows his wishlist for new features and tools — a roadmap that needs to be accomplished with a drastically slimmed-down workforce.

He's warned that anyone engaged in impersonating others without clearly marking themselves as a "parody" account faces instant termination. And in yet another attack on the mainstream media, the billionaire wrote:

"Twitter needs to become by far the most accurate source of information about the world. That's our mission."

Musk's manifesto also includes the ability to add long-form text to tweets, and ensure subscribers to the Twitter Blue service can upload longer videos. "Community Notes," a tool previously known as Birdwatch, also allow users to add context to tweets posted by others.

The billionaire has also promised to help users monetize their content, and keep a greater share of ad revenue than what's offered by rivals such as YouTube. Fixing search is another priority.

Yet plans to dish out verified check marks to anyone who subscribes to Twitter Blue have been pushed back until after the midterm elections.

While many in the Crypto Twitter space have been following Musk's plans with enthusiasm, there's still a group that the billionaire may struggle to win round: advertisers. Back on Friday, he tweeted:

"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."

He went on to claim that he is planning a "thermonuclear name and shame" of these businesses if things get worse — despite the fact that you could argue these companies are exercising their own free speech.