On Friday, Twitter implemented sweeping lay offs, with many of the company’s most influential and inclusive departments being completely gutted.
The order came just days after tech billionaire Elon Musk gained ownership, claiming he aimed to clean the app up from harmful bots.
On Thursday, it was reported that a company-wide email was sent stating employees would be informed whether they would be fired on Friday, in a lottery-style layoff process.
“In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global work force,” the email said. “We recognize that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but this action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward.”
Numerous Twitter employees documented their experience Thursday night and Friday morning, stating they’d already been logged out of their company email accounts and Slack accounts. Blue heart emojis flooded timelines, signaling they’d been ousted.
Many of the employees that are now out of a job stated they’d worked on critically important initiatives, like the prevention of misinformation and racist rhetoric. According to CNN, Twitter employees from departments including ethical AI, marketing and communication, search, public policy, wellness and the curation team which helps manage reliable election information has been let go.
“During this time, you will be on a Non-Working Notice period and your access to Twitter systems will be deactivated,” read the email.
The New York Times reported that workers are being kept out of Twitter’s offices on Friday and laid off employees are being barred from taking any items. “To help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data, our offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be suspended,” the email said, according to the outlet.
As a result of the swift layoffs, it’s being reported a class action suit has been filed by ex-employees citing violation of the federal WARN act, which requires employers to provide written notice at least 60 calendar days in advance of covered plant closings and mass layoffs, per the U.S. Department of Labor.