Twitter co-founder apologises for layoffs, says company grew too quickly

In the wake of tech giant Elon Musk’s takeover of social media platform Twitter, co-founder Jack Dorsey apologised to the employees who were laid off and said that he owned the responsibility for the situation. Taking to Twitter, Dorsey said on Monday, November 7, that people who were a part of Twitter and those currently working there are “strong and resilient.” He added that they will always find a way despite how difficult the moment is. Dorsey also said that many people were angry with him and he “own[s] the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation.” He said, “I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that (sic).” Expressing his gratitude and love for everyone who worked at Twitter, Dorsey said that he did not expect the feelings “to be mutual in this moment…or ever…and I understand (sic).” 

The co-founder of the social media platform also engaged in a spat on Twitter with Elon Musk over the latter’s new policies and vision for Twitter. On Sunday, November 6, Musk tweeted, “Twitter needs to become by far the most accurate source of information about the world. That’s our mission.” Dorsey replied to this by asking, “Accurate to who (sic)?.” Then, Elon Musk said that this will be judged by the people of Twitter via Community Notes (formerly Birdwatch). He was referring to the ‘Birdwatch’ feature that was introduced on Twitter to help users add notes to posts that were ‘misleading’ to give more context.

The two then sparred over how ‘Birdwatch’ was changed to ‘Community Notes’ after Musk took over Twitter. Dorsey contended that Birdwatch “us a far better name”, to which Musk replied, “Birdwatch gives me the creeps.”

Taking a hit at the ‘Birdwatch’ feature being renamed to ‘Community Notes’ after Musk took over, Dorsey said that ‘Birdwatch’ sounded better. Musk responded saying, “Birdwatch gives him the creeps.”

On October 27, billionaire Elon Musk took over Twitter and fired its top four executives, including CEO Parag Agarwal and legal executive Vijaya Gadde. A New York Times report said that Musk had closed the USD 44-billion deal to buy Twitter on October 27.  Following his takeover, there have been massive layoffs in the social media and key departments like Human Rights and Accessibility Experience team. More than 100 employees in India were laid off as well.