They’ll win too. It’s called the WARN Act (not sure what it stands for) and you must give employees a 60-day notice before a reduction in force (RIF). The good companies give you 60 days, then lay you off, then also give you severance pay. But if you announce and lay off same day, you must give employees 60 days of pay and benefits. This applies to companies of a certain size and Twitter is big enough for the law to apply to them. Someone in his camp should have told him and his staff this. Or maybe they did and he didn’t listen and doesn’t care. I think it’s the latter.
My opinion.... Free speech is free. But no one has to provide you with a free platform to speak freely. You don't want to pay $8 a month? Go speak for free somewhere else.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims her Twitter account has experienced difficulties following feud with Elon Musk
November 3, 2022 / 5:04 PM
By C Mandler
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed Wednesday that her Twitter account was experiencing technical issues following an online disagreement with Twitter's new owner and CEO, Elon Musk.
The Democratic New York representative alleged Wednesday that her Twitter "mentions/notifications conveniently aren't working." She followed up with a second tweet Thursday that claimed that the "Verified" tab of her account, which should be populated with tweets from verified creators, appeared empty.
"This is what my app has looked like ever since my tweet upset you yesterday," she wrote. "What's good? Doesn't seem very free speechy to me."
The back-and-forth began Tuesday, when Ocasio-Cortez tweeted her distaste that a "billionaire [is] earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that 'free speech' is actually a $8/mo subscription plan," referencing a Musk announcement that the platform was considering charging users for verification status.
"Power to the people! Blue for $8/month," Musk wrote, referring to Twitter's current blue check mark system as a "lord & peasants system."
Musk argued that charging users for their badge would allow the platform a revenue stream with which to reward content creators, and that those shelling out extra money would have access to additional in-app benefits, such as priority in replies, mentions, searches, extended video and audio posting privileges and reduced advertisements.
Musk replied to Ocasio-Cortez's tweet, writing, "Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8."
Shortly after the exchange, Musk tweeted a photo of a sweatshirt available on Ocasio-Cortez's website, circling the $58 price tag. Ocasio-Cortez quote-tweeted the dig, writing, "My workers are union, make a living wage, have full healthcare, and aren't subject to racist treatment in their workplaces," referencing lawsuits which have been filed against Tesla by Black employees of the company.
"Items are made in USA. Team AOC honors and respects working people. You should try it sometime instead of union-busting," she added.
In 2021, the National Labor Relations Board ordered Musk to delete an anti-union tweet, and ordered Tesla to rehire a union supporter who had been fired.
In her original claim of app-specific difficulties Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, "Just a reminder that money will never [buy] your way out of insecurity, folks."
Though Musk did not respond directly, his tongue-in-cheek Twitter bio currently reads "Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator."
CBS News has reached out to Twitter for comment.
My opinion.... Free speech is free. But no one has to provide you with a free platform to speak freely. You don't want to pay $8 a month? Go speak for free somewhere else.
If it's free, you are the product. You can't decide not to pay and not be the product. These companies are in business to make money,
They’ll win too. It’s called the WARN Act (not sure what it stands for) and you must give employees a 60-day notice before a reduction in force (RIF). The good companies give you 60 days, then lay you off, then also give you severance pay. But if you announce and lay off same day, you must give employees 60 days of pay and benefits. This applies to companies of a certain size and Twitter is big enough for the law to apply to them. Someone in his camp should have told him and his staff this. Or maybe they did and he didn’t listen and doesn’t care. I think it’s the latter.
I stand corrected. I read something and repeated it before it was vetted.Something here is off.
I stand corrected. I read something and repeated it before it was vetted.
See I think the first round of layoff notices were illegal. Now they’re backtracking. I even think in New York it’s 90 days. And good luck laying off people in Europe because they have incredibble protections.No, I think you're right because in the comments, someone mentioned that he's only giving one more month than the law requires. His 50% is off.
Further, SHRM (HR Society) confirms the 60-day notice per the WARN Act.
Link: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/how-to-guides/pages/conductlayofforrif.aspx#:~:text=The federal Worker Adjustment and,employees (few exceptions apply).
Where are people moving to from Twitter?
I'm hearing about Mastodon as an alternative.
(eta: Here are a few suggested links - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/leaving-twitter-alternative-social-media-apps/)
Charging people is monetizing. Free content is what led twitter to this point.I don’t disagree with you about the nature of free things but I think the blue check is different. She can tweet without her identify being verified but the blue check speaks to the integrity of the tweet. If people don’t or can’t pay to verify their identities then we’ll never really know who’s behind the tweets. That’s fine for TikTok dance videos and random posts about nothing but it’s problematic for politics, news, and public health concerns.
Elon made free speech part of his rationale for buying Twitter and then claimed he was misled about the number of bot accounts so charging people to verify their identity seems to go against the things he said were so important.
Those employees better ask for more money or benefits. Shoot. I wouldn’t even come back, you’re probably going to lay me off again. I’ll take the unemployment for $500 Alex.
How could anyone be this terrible a leader? You spend $44 billion on the deal, lay-off people before the ink is dry, then you’re like oops my bad. Who does that? I think a lot of people will go back since they haven’t had time to get other jobs but they will all keep looking and jump ship asap. There’s no way they’d have faith in the company.
I'm assuming that it's tweets like this that caused it.