Elon Musk fired a Twitter engineer after his engagement fell

The latest peak at the internal workings of Twitter is bleak, to say the least.

According to a detailed report from Zoe Schiffer and Casey Newton in the Platformer newsletter (as republished by The Verge), it’s chaos inside Twitter under Elon Musk and employees are worried.

First, the report opens with a quintessential Musk event — Twitter’s owner and CEO reportedly gathered a group of the company’s engineers and advisors and asked them why his engagement numbers were tanking.

“This is ridiculous. I have more than 100 million followers, and I’m only getting tens of thousands of impressions,” Musk said, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the meeting told Platformer.

One of Twitter’s two remaining principal engineers suggested to Musk that interest in his antics was wearing out, and employees reportedly showed him a Google Trends chart depicting Musk’s declining popularity in search rankings. Musk fired the engineer.

Beyond that, the Platformer reported on several other problems within Twitter based on interviews with current employees. Employees spoke about a lack of a long-term vision for Twitter, with some telling Platformer they “mostly move from dumpster fire to dumpster fire.”

They also said they spent time chasing down outlier issues at the request of Musk based on replies he gets from users who claim to have issues.

Moreover, employees report the Twitter officers have a melancholy feel, with people asking each other where they’re interviewing. The eighth floor reportedly is stocked with beds that employees must reserve in advance to use — they’re fully booked most weeknights.

Perks that used to make Twitter an attractive place to work have been removed or destroyed. For example, employees talked about how the food at the office sucks now, and worse, employees need to pay for it.

Finally, Platformer highlighted employee concerns about regulators. Twitter previously commmitted to following steps like creating project proposals and conducting security and privacy reviews before making changes, part of an agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Platformer reports an FTC audit is coming this quarter and employees doubt the company has the necessary documentation in place to pass inspection.

If you want to learn more about how bleak Twitter is from the people who still work there, check out the full Platformer report here.

Source: Platformer Via: The Verge