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SpaceX fires employees criticizing founder Elon Musk

SpaceX has fired five people from its team after they shared a letter criticizing company founder Elon Musk.

According to Reuters, the letter titled “an open letter to the Executives of SpaceX” said Musk was a “distraction and embarrassment.” It listed three demands; SpaceX separates itself from Musk’s personal brand, holds leadership accountable for making SpaceX a more inclusive workplace, and responds to “all forms of unacceptable behaviour.”

The New York Times reported Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, sent employees a follow-up email after the dismissals, saying the firings were for making others feel “uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views.”

Musk is currently in the process of buying Twitter, and his current plans involve cutting the company’s workforce if the deal goes through, according to a pitch deck recently shared with potential investors.

During a presentation to Twitter employees, Musk said the social media company “needs to get healthy” financially as “right now costs exceed revenue.”

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Reuters

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Good guy Elon Musk threatens to lay off Twitter employees following acquisition

Elon Musk had some not very reassuring words for Twitter employees during a recent internal Q&A regarding his acquisition of the company.

During the presentation, Musk said that the company “needs to get healthy” financially as “right now costs exceed revenue,” according to employees. Per The New York Times, in a pitch deck given to potential investors, employee cuts were also hinted at.

However, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal told employees that job cuts were not in their plans “at this time,” suggesting that layoffs are not confirmed yet.

That said, it appears that if Musk’s deal to buy the social media service does go through, at least some employees will be cut from the social media company.

The deal could result in Twitter slashing its workforce of over 7,000 employees. The same investor pitch deck says that Musk wants to increase Twitter’s employee count, before cutting 900 jobs and resuming growth.

Twitter’s annual revenue increased to $5.08 billion USD (about $6.5 billion CAD) in 2021, a shift from 2020’s annual revenue of $3.72 billion USD (about $4.8 billion CAD). As for losses, the social media company experienced a loss of $221 million USD (roughly $286 million) in 2021 which is better than its 2020 loss of $1.14 billion (approximately $1.4 billion CAD).

Source: The New York Times Via: The Verge

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Twitter employees will get to question Elon Musk at upcoming meeting

Twitter will have a virtual all-hands meeting on Thursday where employees will be able to ask Elon Musk questions.

According to Business Insider, a short email Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal sent to employees on June 13th detailed the upcoming meeting with Musk. Moreover, the email noted that employees would be able to submit questions for Musk ahead of the meeting.

Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is in the process of buying Twitter — a process that, so far, has been anything but smooth. Musk first announced plans to acquire Twitter in mid-April and has since repeatedly threatened to delay or cancel the deal. Most recently, Musk accused Twitter of refusing to provide information about the number of spam bots on the platform and threatened to pull out of the deal — Twitter later agreed to give Musk the info.

The upcoming all-hands meeting could prove contentious. Reports suggest Twitter employees aren’t thrilled about Musk acquiring the social network, with The Verge detailing “concerned and negative” sentiments coming from Twitter’s Slack channels.

Musk has also criticized Twitter, inciting his followers to attack and harass a prominent Twitter employee.

The deal is expected to take six months to close, assuming Musk doesn’t scrap it first.

Source: Business Insider Via: The Verge

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Twitter rolls out new ‘symptoms-first’ reporting process

Twitter has made its new process to report violations available to platform users.

In December, the company announced it was testing how users could report harmful content. Twitter said it utilized the “symptoms-first” method, where people are asked what’s going on first.

Twitter will now first ask users if they received hate, were harassed, threatened with violence, or shown self-harm content when submitting a report. The old reporting rules first asked users to report how content went against the social media giant’s practices.

Initial trials were limited to a group of Twitter users in the U.S., but the feature is now available globally on the web, iOS, and Android, Techcrunch reports.

The Verge further reports early testing led to positive results, with “actionable reports” increasing by 50 percent.

This is the latest feature the company has rolled out while being acquired by the world’s richest man, who has consistently made threats to walk away from the deal.

His most recent threat stems from data about bots, which seems to have been dispelled after Twitter granted Musk the information earlier this week.

Image credit: Twitter

Source: Twitter via Techcrunch and The Verge

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Canadians targeted by pro-Russian information on Twitter: study

Canada has been the target of a misinformation campaign by Russia to influence public opinion through social media.

University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy analyzed 6.2 million tweets since January 2022 and found the pro-Russian narrative is coming from two large communities: those influenced by U.S. sources and those affected by international sources from Russia, Europe, and China.

The tweets focus on five main narratives, including NATO using Ukraine as a proxy against Russia and promoting mistrust of the Liberal government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

To pinpoint these tweets, the authors collected profile information from accounts tweeting and re-tweeting content associated with the war in Ukraine and applied a location filter to limit the tweets to Canada. They built a network establishing connections between accounts and divided them into “communities of similar profiles,” applying an algorithm to categorize the narratives of these communities.

About 25 percent of the tweets discussed on Canadian Twitter spread pro-Russian narratives.

Accounts scoring high as promoting pro-Russian ideology. Source: University of Calgary/ School of Public Policy

Jean-Christophe Boucher, one of the study’s authors, told The Canadian Press some of the accounts spreading misinformation are bots with ties to external influences, but they’re not doing it alone.

The main U.S.-influenced accounts promoting a pro-Russian narrative belong to right-wing figures in the U.S., including Tulsi Gabbard and Jack Posobiec. Canadian figures associated with the right are also on the list, including Rupa Subramanya and Maxime Bernier.

Image credit: Twitter

Source: The School of Public Policy Via: The Canadian Press 

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Twitter will provide Elon Musk with requested information to appease complaints

Twitter is giving into Elon Musk’s demands.

The Washington Post reports the company is working towards granting him the “firehose” API containing tweets as users post them.

Musk has been requesting the information since May, saying Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal wasn’t providing proof that fake and spam accounts represent less than five percent of all accounts. Musk believes this figure sits at 20 percent. 

In a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, Musk’s lawyers said Twitter is obligated to provide the information as part of his move to acquire Twitter. Refusing to do so might lead to Musk walking away from the deal.

“Twitter has and will continue to cooperatively share information with Mr. Musk to consummate the transaction in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement,” a Twitter spokesperson told The Verge. “We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms.”

Source: Washington Post Via: The Verge

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Elon Musk threatens to pulls out of Twitter deal

Elon Musk is threatening to pull out of his $44 billion USD (roughly $55 billion CAD) agreement to buy Twitter.

Through a letter, Musk’s lawyers accused Twitter of refusing to provide information pertaining to the number of spam-bot accounts on the platform.

If you recall, the saga started last month when Musk said bot accounts could represent 20 percent of the platform’s users. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said this figure is less than five percent but couldn’t share details showing how Twitter got to this figure publicly.

The recent letter says Musk doesn’t believe in Twitter’s “lax testing methodologies” and needs the information to run his own analysis. The letter, included in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, goes on to say the information requested is part of the agreement, and not providing it is “causing further suspicion,” leading way for Musk to walk away from the acquisition.

“This is a clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations under the merger agreement and Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement,” the letter from Musk’s lawyers says.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Via: The New York Times

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Elon Musk teases Tesla robot might be ready by September 30

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he’s shifting the company’s AI Day event to September 30th in anticipation of a working Optimus prototype.

The news, shared through a tweet, came hours before Reuters reported Musk emailed executives about cutting 10 percent of Tesla’s workforce because of a “super bad feeling” about the economy.

Optimus is the humanoid robot revealed during Tesla’s 2021 AI day. Musk says it will complete dull tasks humans don’t like, such as grocery shopping and other everyday tasks.

But the question remains if Musk is speaking the truth or using the tweet to cover up the promises unravelling around him.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Twitter via The Verge

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Tesla reported having paid a PR firm to monitor employees online in 2017 and 2018

Concha Zaspa, Ukraine – July 20, 2018: Tesla sign on the building on car sales

Tesla reportedly paid a PR firm to monitor employees online in 2017 and 2018. The firm focused on research conducted by labour organizers through a Facebook group.

The core reasoning behind Tesla bringing on a PR firm is due to its staff trying to form a union at the company’s Fremont, California factory. According to invoices and documents obtained by CNBC, MikeWorldWide (MWW) PR tried to identify conversations regarding workplace conditions. The monitoring covered anything from unfair labour practices to a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Via the report, three Tesla employees who worked at the Fremont factory were advised not to connect with high ups online. This extended to staff joining online groups without surveying the members. Additionally, two current employees are also cautious about Tesla continuing to monitor social media posts to this day.

Copies of Tesla’s current communication policies have also been seen. These reportedly state that managing personnel should not look into an employee’s social media presence without a notable reason drawing back to the company. However, the company also states that employees should not address labour issues online. Instead, they are “more likely to resolve concerns about work” through the company directly.

News of this comes at a time when Tesla CEO Elon Musk is very adamant about free speech online. In his bid to acquire Twitter for $44 billion, Musk has been outspoken about how the social media platform should be used for free speech. Prior to approaching a deal to purchase Twitter, Musk used the platform to complain about the state of free speech. The question of whether “a new platform is needed” was also brought into question.

Ultimately, this led Musk to purchase 9.2 percent of Twitter and later reach a deal to own the company. However, the acquisition has not gone through fully at the time of writing.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: CNBC Via: The Daily Beast

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Elon Musk issues hiring freeze at Tesla and also cuts staffing by 10 percent

This week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent an email to company execs, informing them that the company is pausing hiring worldwide. Additionally, due to having a “super bad feeling” about the economy, Musk told Tesla’s executive team to cut its staff by 10 percent.

Based on 2021 filings, Tesla has a global workforce of 99,290 employees. A cut of 10 percent is fairly significant. However, Musk and Tesla are no strangers to layoffs. It was only just recently that Musk sent executives another email claiming “remote work is no longer acceptable.” Any employees not in the office, working 40 hours a week are to be let go.

Musk cites his feelings about the economy as the reasoning behind the freeze and layoffs. That said, earlier this year, Tesla expected to increase vehicle deliveries by 50 percent year-over-year thanks to demand. In 2021, the company’s sales also increased by 71 percent to $53.8 billion USD (roughly $67.5 billion CAD). It’s also noted that Tesla reported over $3 billion (roughly 3.765 billion CAD) in profit in its first quarter of this year. However, COVID-19 lockdowns have played a role in shutdowns at Tesla’s gigafactory in China. This, in turn, is impacting the company’s deliveries this month.

There’s no word on which departments are being affected by the layoffs.

This news also comes at a time when Musk himself is in the midst of purchasing Twitter. The transaction is set with a value of $44 billion USD (about $56 billion CAD). Musk is reportedly completing the deal with the Royal Bank of Canada and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce assistance. The two are lending Musk a total of $1.15 billion USD ($1.46 billion CAD) in low-cost debt loans.

Source: Reuters Via: The Verge