Ex-Twitter CEO apologises to staff after massive lay-offs, UN chief urges Elon Musk to respect human rights
- Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey said sorry to staff who were laid off after Elon Musk acquired the company, saying he grew it too quickly
- UN human rights chief Volker Turk set out six principles from a human rights perspective, urging Musk to make them central in the management of Twitter
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Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey apologised to company staff on Saturday for growing the social media giant “too quickly” a day after roughly half of the company’s 7,500 employees were fired by new owner Elon Musk.
“I realise many are angry with me,” wrote Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter in 2006 and stepped down as CEO last year. “I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologise for that,” he said on Twitter.
Many Twitter employees had been waiting for their former boss, a charismatic and influential figure in Silicon Valley, to react after Musk, the world’s richest man, took control of the platform a week ago in a contentious deal.
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Dorsey had endorsed the takeover by Musk, calling it “the right path” in a Twitter post in April. “Folks at Twitter past and present are strong and resilient,” Dorsey wrote on Saturday. “They will always find a way no matter how difficult the moment.”
Dorsey left the Twitter board of directors earlier this spring, but remains an indirect shareholder in the company.
Musk completed his mammoth US$44 billion acquisition late last week and quickly set about dissolving its board and firing its chief executive and top managers.
“I am grateful for, and love, everyone who has ever worked on Twitter,” Dorsey tweeted. “I don’t expect that to be mutual in this moment … or ever … and I understand.”
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Meanwhile, UN human rights chief Volker Turk urged Musk on Saturday to ensure that respect for human rights is central to the social network following his sacking of around half the company’s employees.
Reports of Musk laying off the platform’s entire human rights team were “not, from my perspective, an encouraging start”, Turk said in an open letter.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said he was writing with “concern and apprehension about our digital public square and Twitter’s role in it”.
“Like all companies, Twitter needs to understand the harms associated with its platform and take steps to address them,” wrote Turk.
“Respect for our shared human rights should set the guardrails for the platform’s use and evolution. In short, I urge you to ensure human rights are central to the management of Twitter under your leadership.”
Turk posted the open letter on Twitter, where he has more than 25,000 followers.
Turk set out six fundamental principles from a human rights perspective, urging Musk to put them front and centre in the management of Twitter.
They included protecting free speech and privacy, and ensuring transparency.
