(ThePatriotWire)- Now that billionaire Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter finally, he has big plans to completely revamp the social media platform.
According to various media reports, those changes are going to start with the company’s employees. The New York Times reported late last week that Musk had plans for mass layoffs throughout various departments of the company, all of which could start in the near future.
The Times cited multiple people who were familiar with the issue. They told the media outlet that some managers were asked to create lists of which employees should be subject to the cuts.
Musk completed the $44 billion purchase of Twitter last Thursday, and then planned to almost immediately institute the cuts, which will hit certain departments more than they will others, though the cuts are expected to happen across the entire company.
Twitter had about 7,500 total employees at the time that Musk took over.
While the layoffs were expected to happen before November 1 — when some employees would receive stock grants as part of their compensation package — that didn’t happen. Instead, The Times reported that he’s brought over a team of confidants from his other company Tesla to help him rein things in.
He has met with some executives at Twitter to work on the layoff strategy, to review the company’s content moderation practices, to talk about changing some of its products and to meet with some of its biggest advertisers.
While Musk and his team work on finalizing all the layoffs, they are also working with engineers at the company to potentially refine the “verification” program the social media company has.
Through this program, certain people are awarded blue check marks next to their name, which verifies that the account is owned by the well-known person it claims to be. According to people who are in the loop about these discussions, Musk has thrown around charging users up to $20 a month to retain their verified status on the platform.
It could be a big way for Twitter to bring in a significant amount of money, as this verified badge is a big deal for many celebrities and other public people who try to fend off fake accounts posing as them.
Immediately after Musk took over Twitter last week, he fired the former CFO, CEO and several other high-ranking officials. He announced that he’d form a council to discuss content moderation on the platform, diving into what type of posts he’d allow to remain and which ones to take down.
Another hot topic he addressed is users who have been banned from Twitter for violating its terms. Musk said he wouldn’t immediately reinstate anyone while he tries to figure things out. Among the people permanently banned from Twitter is former President Donald Trump.
Ever since word got out that Musk was planning to take over Twitter back in the spring, the world’s richest person said he had plans to take the company private, find new streams of revenue, roll back some of its rules regarding content moderation and reduce its overall workforce.
