Jack Dorsey has apologized to Twitter staff for mass layoffs at the company.
In a tweet, the former CEO and co-founder of the platform said: “Folks at Twitter past and present are strong and resilient. They will always find a way no matter how difficult the moment. I realize many are angry with me. I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that.”
He added in a further tweet: “I am grateful for, and love, everyone who has ever worked on Twitter. I don’t expect that to be mutual in this moment…or ever…and I understand.” He ended the tweet with a blue heart emoji.
The tweets received plenty of backlash on the platform, with one user writing: “Will you be sharing any of the billion dollars you received with people who just lost their jobs?"
Public figures also weighed in. Broadcaster Soledad O’Brien replied: “Gotta love a non-apology apology”, while the writer Rebecca Solnit retorted: “Twitter’s size isn’t a problem. Twitter being sold to a right-wing idiot is.”
Dorsey resigned as Twitter CEO back in November last year and was replaced by Parag Agrawal, the Chief Technology Officer at the time. In April this year, Dorsey announced his support of Musk’s takeover. In a series of tweets that began with a TIDAL streaming link to Radiohead’s "Everything In Its Right Place", he said, “Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.”
Meanwhile, several companies including General Mills and Audi have pulled advertisements from Twitter amid concerns about Musk’s takeover opening the door to hate speech and misinformation.
Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of Safety & Integrity took to the platform on Friday to assuage such fears. He clarified that front-line moderation staff were the “least” impacted by the layoffs. Musk also reiterated content moderation remained a priority.