Twitter has cut upwards of 5,500 contract employees without notice, according to Platformer.
First reported by Casey Newton, and confirmed by Axios and CNBC, the mass firings span global workers in content moderation, real estate, and marketing, "among others."
Some 4,400 to 5,500 contractors employed by Surya Systems were let go over the weekend with no advanced notice of their termination; many found out only after losing access to Twitter's email and internal communications systems.
Neither Twitter nor Surya Systems immediately responded to PCMag's request for comment.
"Managers figured it out when their workers just disappeared from the system," Newton tweeted on Sunday, adding that cuts are expected to have "significant impact to content moderation and the core infrastructure services that keep the site up and running."
An internal email, sent to contractors and published by Business Insider, explains that the decision is part of a "reprioritization and saving exercise" during a "period of resource constraints." It notified workers—who'd already been locked out of all accounts—that their last day at Twitter is Monday, Nov. 14, though they're not expected to "perform any services."
"People inside are stunned," Newton said. The move comes a week after new boss Elon Musk dropped half of Twitter's staff and slashed 15% of its Trust & Safety team—only to ask some employees to return.
"I don't understand how they didn't learn from their previous week's debacle of laying off full-time employees without telling them," one worker told Insider. "It might not seem like a big deal, but I don't think it's appropriate to treat employees like this (again)."
It's been chaotic at Twitter since Musk took over. He has introduced and then delayed or pulled various features like paid verification, an "Official" label, and Twitter Blue. Chief Information Security Officer Lea Kissner last week also quit the social media platform, alongside the firm's chief privacy officer, chief compliance officer, and several members of Twitter's privacy and security division.