IT Minister condemns Twitter layoffs in India

NEW DELHI: Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has criticised the decision by Elon Musk-run Twitter to sack its employees in India, saying that they should have been given a “fair time for transition”.

Vaishnaw’s reaction came as Musk fired about half of Twitter’s workforce globally, including nearly 150-180 employees in India. “We condemn the way Twitter has sacked employees in India,” said Vaishnaw, adding that the employees “should have given the employees a fair time for transition”.

The layoffs in India were done across departments, from sales to marketing, from content curation to corporate communications. Twitter employees in India last week lost access to their official emails and internal Slack and group chats. Those who are still with Twitter India are living in constant fear about losing their jobs in the next round, which they think will happen sooner keeping Musk’s intentions in mind.

According to the company, the employee badge access to Twitter’s offices was shut off “temporarily.” Musk said there was no choice other than brutally firing half of Twitter’s workforce as the company was losing over $4 million a day. “Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day,” Musk tweeted. “Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50 per cent more than legally required,” he added. He also said that Twitter has seen a massive drop in revenue as activist groups are putting undue pressure on its advertisers.