Twitter chief executive Elon Musk has drawn a hard line for his employees, leaving them with two difficult choices – either commit to the new ‘hardcore’ Twitter or take a three months severance pay and go home, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
It’s the latest diktat from the tech billionaire as he
brings sweeping changes to the company to align it with his vision.
In an email, Musk asked Twitter’s employees to sign a pledge
if they wished to stay on with the company. “If you are sure that you want to
be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below,” read the
email, which had an online form attached, and also formally ended Twitter’s
work-from-anywhere policy.
Anyone who failed to sign the pledge by 5 pm US Eastern Time
on Thursday would be handed a three-month severance package, Musk wrote.
Musk also sent an email to the Washington Post later in the
night, saying, “Twitter will need to be extremely hardcore” going forward. He
added: “This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional
performance will constitute a passing grade.”
Meanwhile, Musk is in the midst of making his first first
key product change since taking over the company last month – paid verified
accounts starting at $8 a month. He said on Wednesday that Twitter would
relaunch the subscription service on November 29.
The initial launch was withdrawn after several accounts,
maliciously impersonating companies and well-known people, paid for a blue tick
and proceeded to spread chaos and misinformation on the platform.
Fake accounts were created for companies such as Nintendo,
Lockheed Martin, Eli Lilly, and Twitter itself, in addition to political
leaders such as former US President George W Bush and former British Prime
Minister Tony Blair.
Twitter had also rolled out a grey ‘Official’ tag for some
brands and media outlets, which is separate from the ‘Verified’ tag that users
will pay for.
The Washington Post report said the new service failed to
gain much traction after its initial launch, titling towards just a few
communities and threatening Twitter’s core advertising revenue.
Twitter has been facing flak from advertisers, some of which
– such as General Mills, Pfizer and Volkswagen – have paused putting out ads on
the platform after Musk’s takeover.
The pullback came amid growing concerns that misinformation
and objectionable content may be allowed to proliferate on the platform under
Musk’s leadership, and that ads could appear alongside such content.
We reported on November 7 that some of India’s biggest
brands have also paused advertising on Twitter while many others said they are
being cautious.
“We have paused paid advertising on Twitter as we seek
clarity on the new direction and controls within the platform,” a spokesperson
for Mondelez India, the country’s largest chocolate maker, told ET in an email.
She said the company has taken this stance "because it takes brand safety
very seriously”.