For subscribers
Twitter layoffs will shrink free speech worldwide
Elon Musk’s idea of unmoderated, unmediated speech won’t lead to empowerment in places that lack America’s constitutional protections
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Mr Elon Musk might think the Twitter he bought crimped free speech.
PHOTO: AFP
Mihir Sharma
Twitter – now under new management, if that’s the right word – fired about half its workers over the weekend, a big story by anyone’s standards. Yet some teams and countries suffered worse – and that is a story with global political implications.
In India, for example, Twitter seems to have laid off 90 per cent of its employees. In Brazil, a team of 150 was let go, according to Bloomberg Linea. Shortly after Mr Elon Musk took over the company, the number of employees with the ability to suspend or ban an account for breaches of user policies was at least temporarily reduced from “hundreds” to about 15.
