(NEW YORK) — Amazon began layoffs on Wednesday of workers on its devices team, which focuses on products like its voice-operated Alexa, Dave Limp, senior vice president of devices and services, said in a memo.
The move adds the company to a list of major tech firms that have imposed job cuts in recent weeks, including Facebook-parent Meta and Twitter.
The memo did not provide details on the scale of the layoffs, but the job losses arrive at a time when the company typically expands its workforce during the busy holiday season.
“We continue to face an unusual and uncertain macroeconomic environment,” the memo said. “After a deep set of reviews, we recently decided to consolidate some teams and programs.”
“In cases where employees cannot find a new role within the company, we will support the transition with a package that includes a separation payment, transitional benefits and external job placement support,” the memo added.
The layoffs follow major job cuts at other big tech firms, as industry titans retreat from record sales attained during the pandemic, when billions across the world were forced into isolation. Customers stuck at home came to rely on delivery services like e-commerce and virtual connections formed through social media and videoconferencing.
However, persistent recession fears, rising interest rates and a shift back toward a pre-pandemic lifestyle have crunched the tech sector.
Under new owner Elon Musk, Twitter laid off roughly half of its 7,500-person workforce, citing losses of about $4 million each day.
Days later, Meta announced that it would cut about 11,000 employees, which amounts to roughly 13% of its workforce. The company reported a second consecutive quarter of declining sales last month.
Lyft, Netflix, Coinbase, Salesforce, Microsoft and Snap are among a slew of other tech companies that have cut workers this year.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq has fallen more than 25% in 2022. Shares in Amazon are down 18% this year.
Third-quarter earnings released by Amazon last month fell short of analyst expectations for revenue, sending the stock down 13% in extended trading on the day of the announcement.
(NEW YORK) — A rude awakening for the tech industry this year has triggered a slew of layoffs at major companies.
Sales at top tech firms have retreated from the blistering pace attained during the pandemic, when billions across the world were forced into isolation. Customers stuck at home came to rely on delivery services like e-commerce and virtual connections formed through social media and videoconferencing.
However, persistent recession fears, rising interest rates and a shift back toward a pre-pandemic lifestyle have bludgeoned the industry.
The downturn has sent stocks tumbling and companies reeling. A slew of industry stalwarts have cut a combined tens of thousands of workers in an effort to slash costs.
Here are some of the tech companies that have imposed layoffs this year:
Meta: Cut about 11,000 employees
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week announced that the company would be laying off about 11,000 employees — an estimated 13% of its workforce.
Meta reported a second consecutive quarter of declining sales last month, as the company contends with a widespread drop in online ad spending and rising competition from TikTok. Shares of the company’s stock have plummeted about 65% this year.
“We’ve cut costs across our business, including scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint,” Zuckerberg said.
“We’re restructuring teams to increase our efficiency. But these measures alone won’t bring our expenses in line with our revenue growth, so I’ve also made the hard decision to let people go,” he added.
Twitter: Cut about 3,700 employees
Days after Elon Musk acquired Twitter, the company earlier this month began layoffs that will cut roughly half of its 7,500-person workforce.
“Today is your last working day at the company,” the company said in an email to employees, which ABC News has reviewed. The subject line read “Your Role at Twitter” and was sent to the personal email addresses of those laid off.
Those laid off will remain employed by Twitter and receive compensation and benefits until the first week of January 2023, though the date may vary for employees. Affected employees were already locked out of their Twitter systems, such as email and Slack.
Musk, who said he overpaid for the platform at the purchasing price of $44 billion, faces pressure to boost the company’s profits. Earlier this month, he said the company is losing $4 million each day.
Amazon: Cut about 10,000 employees
Amazon is set to lay off about 10,000 workers, marking the largest job cuts in the company’s history and the latest employee losses in a battered tech industry, the New York Times reported on Monday. The layoffs could begin as early as this week.
The cuts amount to less than 1% of the company’s 1.5 million workers worldwide, but the job losses arrive at a time when the company typically expands its workforce during the busy holiday season.
The cuts will be concentrated in the Amazon department that specializes in devices, such as the voice-assisted Alexa, the Times reported. Jobs will also be lost in retail and human resources.
Shares in Amazon are down 18% this year. Third-quarter earnings released by Amazon last month fell short of analyst expectations for revenue, sending the stock down 13% in extended trading on the day of the announcement.
Lyft: Cut about 700 employees
Rideshare company Lyft laid off about 700 workers or 13% of staff earlier this month, the company said in a memo to employees.
In the memo, co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer attributed the job cuts to “a probable recession sometime in the next year” as well as inflation and an increase in rideshare insurance costs.
The company’s stock has fallen about 71% this year, more than double the decline in the tech-heavy Nasdaq index over that period.
Laid-off employees will receive 10 weeks of pay, health care coverage through next April and assistance landing elsewhere, among other benefits, the memo said.
Stripe: Cut about 1,100 employees
Earlier this month, fintech company Stripe announced it would lay off 14% of its workforce or about 1,100 employees.
“We are facing stubborn inflation, energy shocks, higher interest rates, reduced investment budgets, and sparser startup funding,” CEO Patrick Collison said in a memo to employees.
The company will pay departing employees 14 weeks of severance as well as their annual bonus for 2022, among other benefits, the memo added.
Redfin: Cut 862 employees
Online real estate broker Redfin laid off 862 workers or about 13% of its workforce last week, the company said in a financial filing.
The company has cut more than a quarter of its staff since April due to a housing downturn that the company expects to last through next year, the filing said.
An aggressive series of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve has sent mortgage rates soaring to a 20-year high last month, as the U.S. endures an ongoing slowdown in home sales and housing construction.
Salesforce: Cut hundreds of employees
Enterprise software company Salesforce cut hundreds of workers last week, TechCrunch reported.
In an Investor Day presentation last month, CFO Amy Weaver said the company is seeking greater profitability, as it aims to reach a 25% operating margin by 2026.
The company’s stock has dropped about 38% this year.
Microsoft: Cut nearly 1,000 employees
Microsoft last month announced layoffs for nearly 1,000 employees worldwide, the company confirmed to ABC News.
While significant, the job losses affected less than one half of 1% of the company’s 221,000 employees worldwide.
The job cuts came across different positions, levels and geographic regions, Microsoft confirmed.
“Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly,” the company told ABC News in a statement. “We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead.”
Robinhood: Cut 23% of employees
Online financial trading platform Robinhood announced in August that the company would lay off 23% of its workforce, following cuts in April that affected 9% of employees.
“We have seen additional deterioration of the macro environment, with inflation at 40-year highs accompanied by a broad crypto market crash,” CEO Vlad Tenev said in a blog post. This has further reduced customer trading activity and assets under custody.
Retail stock trading online soared amid pandemic-related stimulus payments in 2020 and 2021, but has waned this year as consumers face rising costs.
Coinbase: Cut about 1,100 employees
Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase in June laid off 1,100 workers or about 18% of full-time positions.
In a memo to employees, CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong cited an apparent economic downturn and an anticipated decline in trading revenue.
“We appear to be entering a recession after a 10+ year economic boom,” he wrote.
The company cut about 60 additional workers in its recruiting and institutional onboarding departments last week, The Information reported.
(NEW YORK) — Twitter employees have till Thursday evening to commit to being “extremely hardcore” or accept three months of severance upon their exiting the company, Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk wrote in a company-wide email. The internal email sent out this morning was obtained by ABC News and first reported by Platformer.
With the subject line “A Fork in the Road,” Musk wrote: “Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore.”
“This will mean working long hours at high intensity,” he added. “Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”
For those who wish to be part of the “new Twitter,” Musk directs employees to “click yes” on a forms link embodied in the email.
“Anyone who has not done so by 5pm ET tomorrow (Thursday) will receive three months of severance,” Musk wrote. “Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful.”
Twitter will from now on be more “engineering-driven,” he wrote — with less focus on design and product management.
“Design and product management will still be very important and report to me, but those writing great code will constitute the majority of our team and have the greatest sway,” Musk wrote. “At its heart, Twitter is a software and servers company, so I think this makes sense.”
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
On Tuesday, Twitter fired “dozens” of employees over comments they made on an internal Slack channel criticizing new owner Elon Musk, two former employees had told ABC News.
Controversy has surrounded Musk since he purchased the social media site at the end of October for roughly $44 billion.
In the days since he acquired Twitter, Musk fired top executives, laid off half of the company’s staff, formed a content moderation council that will review account reinstatements and revamped the platform’s subscription service, Twitter Blue.
ABC News’ Max Zahn and Teddy Grant contributed to this story.
(NEW YORK) — Estée Lauder is acquiring Tom Ford for $2.8 billion, the venerable beauty brand announced Tuesday.
Through the new deal, the beauty conglomerate plans to add the designer label’s fragrances, cosmetics, skin care and apparel to its large portfolio of brands.
While the acquisition is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approvals, it is expected to close during the first half of next year.
Estée Lauder said it has made arrangements to pay for the transaction through cash, debt and $300 million in deferred payments to the sellers by July 2025.
Acquiring Tom Ford’s line of fragrances was one of the main drivers of the acquisition, ABC News’s Rebecca Jarvis reported on Good Morning America.
Perfumes were a growth category during the pandemic, while Estée Lauder was hit hard by China’s COVID-19 restrictions — with once booming sales in Asia falling — and its shares down about 40% this year.
Estée Lauder hopes Ford’s flourishing business, whose net sales grew nearly 25% in its most recent fiscal year, according to the company, will fuel even more growth.
“We are incredibly proud of the success Tom Ford Beauty has achieved in luxury fragrance and makeup and its dedication to creating desirable, high-quality products for discerning consumers around the world,” Fabrizio Freda, president and chief executive officer for The Estée Lauder Companies, said in a statement. “As an owned brand, this strategic acquisition will unlock new opportunities and fortify our growth plans for Tom Ford Beauty. It will also further help to propel our momentum in the promising category of luxury beauty for the long-term while reaffirming our commitment to being the leading pure player in global prestige beauty.”
Tom Ford Beauty was initially launched as a partnership with Estée Lauder in 2006 with fragrance, makeup and skin care, and through the years, has grown to be a highly sought-after brand.
“I could not be happier with this acquisition as The Estée Lauder Companies is the ideal home for the brand. They have been an extraordinary partner from the first day of my creation of the company and I am thrilled to see them become the luxury stewards in this next chapter of the Tom Ford brand,” Ford said in a statement.
While Ford himself has not confirmed his future plans, he will continue to stay with the brand through the end of 2023.
(NEW YORK) — Amazon is warning customers about an increase in online and mobile scams ahead of the holiday season.
According to Amazon, they have already initiated takedowns of more than 20,000 phishing websites and 10,000 phone numbers associated with impersonation schemes this year.
The retail giant said more than 50% of the impersonation scams its customers report are fake order confirmations.
“A scammer will send a fake order confirmation looking like you bought something online or in a store and pretend that you need to urgently contact customer service,” Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of selling partner services, told Good Morning America, explaining how the scams often play out. “And they’ll give you a link or a phone number to try and contact them.”
Once a person reaches out, scammers may ask for anything from credit card or Social Security numbers or other personal information.
One example of a fraudulent text message someone may receive asks a potential Amazon customer to click a link to contact customer care if they didn’t place an order. Upon closer inspection, the “o” in the word “order” is the number zero.
Another example of a fraudulent text message is one that offers information about a fake order and then asks a customer to call a phone number to request a refund.
“As our technology has become more sophisticated, scammers have become more sophisticated,” Claire Rosenzweig, the CEO of Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York, told GMA. “Scammers are going to try to use your emotions against you so that you react and give them what they want, which is usually your money or your personal information.”
The Federal Trade Commission said it has received more than 3 million reports of impersonation scams since 2018, with consumers losing more than $6 billion.
To protect your personal information and your money, Amazon is advising customers:
Do not to click on any suspicious links.
Do not call or text any phone numbers you don’t recognize.
Be wary of any sense of urgency.
When in doubt, contact customer service directly and file a report.
When using email, look for the Amazon smile logo. That is an icon used to verify the message is directly from Amazon.
“If you want to check your real order history, if you want to really contact our customer service, you go to Amazon.com or use the Amazon app,” said Mehta. “Don’t fall prey to those scams.”
If you think you have been scammed, experts recommend taking the following steps:
Contact your bank immediately.
Ask your bank to have the transaction reversed.
Cancel your credit card.
If you used a gift card, contact the company that issued the gift card and ask for a refund.
For Amazon specifically, utilize the company’s scam reporting feature at Amazon.com/reportascam.
(NEW YORK) — A red wave in the midterm elections propelled by discontent over sky-high inflation was expected to deliver a historic defeat for Democrats — until it didn’t.
Typically the party in control of the White House suffers significant losses in the midterm elections. In this case, some analysts expected the disadvantage for Democrats to prove greater than usual, since inflation stood near a 40-year high and recession fears abounded.
Days before the election, polls validated that concern. Roughly half of Americans said either the economy or inflation was the most important issue in their vote for Congress, making bread-and-butter financial issues by far the most dominant, according to an ABC News/Ipsos survey.
Instead, the Democrats are projected to control the Senate; and while Republicans lead in the race for a House majority, that chamber has yet to be decided.
The apparent lack of a voter backlash against Democrats over inflation stems in part from the priority placed on other issues as well as the struggles of candidates backed by former President Donald Trump, experts told ABC News.
But the results also suggest that inflation motivated voters less than many expected, perhaps because savings have cushioned the financial pain and the job market remains fairly robust, some experts said.
Here’s why the Democrats eluded a voter backlash over inflation, according to experts:
Abortion, candidate quality play outsized role
A top reason why Democrats avoided a midterms landslide over inflation has nothing to do with the price hikes, experts told ABC News. Instead, voters prioritized other issues like abortion or formed judgments based on the candidates on offer in a given race.
On election day, 32% of voters said inflation was their most important issue but abortion followed close behind at 27%, while voters also mentioned crime, immigration and gun policy, an ABC News exit poll showed.
Moreover, more than two-thirds of voters said democracy in the U.S. is threatened, the exit poll found.
Inflation less motivating to voters
Another reason why Democrats avoided punishment at the polls over inflation is that the issue appeared to motivate voters less than expected, in part because some analysts overstated the typical role of inflation in midterm elections, experts said.
Further, some analysts and media outlets may have overstated the degree of financial pain inflicted by inflation, since savings carried over from the pandemic have softened the blow of high prices, some experts said.
Historically, the height or change of inflation has not been linked with the performance of the president’s party in the midterms, Matt Grossman, a professor of political science at Michigan State University who studies the role of inflation in electoral politics, told ABC News.
However, academics have tied gas prices to presidential approval rating, which in turn marks a key indicator for the midterm performance of the party in control of the White House, Grossman added.
While gas prices declined over the final few weeks of the campaign, they remained elevated on election day. Only 44% approved of Biden’s presidency, among the lowest midterm approval ratings in 40 years.
Voters may have held Biden responsible for high prices but forwent placing blame on Congressional candidates, Grossman said.
The lower-than-expected voter motivation based on the midterms owes in part to household savings that have mitigated some of the damage, some experts said.
U.S. households amassed about $2.3 trillion in savings in 2020 and 2021, a Federal Reserve study showed last month. Moreover, households in the lower half of income distribution were still holding a combined $350 billion in excess savings as of the middle of this year, the study found.
Mark Zandi, of Moody Analytics, estimated that inflation has added about $500 per month in costs on average for a U.S. household compared with a year ago.
“It’s financially tough,” he said. “Excess savings built up during the pandemic certainly have cushioned the blow.”
Labor market remains fairly strong
Despite sky-high inflation and rising interest rates, the labor market remains fairly robust. While the jobs added each month have fallen over the second half of this year, they remain strong, keeping the unemployment rate below 4%.
The lack of a voter backlash against Democrats over the economy suggests that the pain imposed by inflation may be offset in part by the high level of employment, experts told ABC News.
“The topline take from the midterms from an economic perspective is that full employment matters,” Felicia Wong, the president and CEO of the left-leaning nonprofit Roosevelt Forward, told ABC News.
Wong contrasted the results of the midterms last week with the midterm election in 2010, when then-President Barack Obama oversaw an economy with a 9.6% unemployment rate in the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession. In what Obama later described as a “shellacking,” Republicans picked up 63 seats in the House.
“Inflation is a financial corrosive for all Americans, but it’s not an acute pain,” Zandi said. “Unemployment is a very acute pain when people are affected by it.”
(MAPLETON, Ill.) — One of the world’s biggest manufacturers of industrial vehicles and equipment has been cited and penalized for the death of a worker who fell into an 11-foot-deep pot of molten iron heated to more than 2,000 degrees this summer.
Steve Dierkes, a 39-year-old employee and melting specialist at a Caterpillar foundry which produces cast iron engine components in Mapleton, Illinois, was “immediately incinerated” after falling into the huge tub of molten iron that was heated to approximately twice the temperature of volcanic lava on June 2 earlier this year. Dierkes was only on the ninth day of his new job when he died.
“Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined the foundry routinely exposed employees to unprotected fall hazards as they worked within four feet of deep ceramic containers of super-heated molten iron,” OSHA said in a statement. “If required safety guards or fall protection had been installed, the 39-year-old employee’s ninth day on the job might not have been their last.”
Caterpillar, a Fortune 500 corporation and construction equipment manufacturer, was cited for one willful violation and fined $145,027 by OSHA, according to OSHA’s statement announcing the punishment.
“A worker’s life could have been spared if Caterpillar had made sure required safety protections were in place, a fact that only adds to this tragedy,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Bill Donovan in Chicago. “Producing more than 150,000 tons each year, Caterpillar’s foundry is one of the nation’s largest and they should be acutely aware of industry regulations to protect workers using smelters and other dangerous equipment.”
Federal safety regulations require employers to install guardrails and restraint systems to protect workers from falls into dangerous equipment like Dierkes suffered.
“Caterpillar’s failure to meet its legal responsibilities to ensure the safety and health of workers leaves this worker’s family, friends and co-workers to grieve needlessly,” said OSHA Area Director Christine Zortman in Peoria, Illinois. “We implore employers to review the agency specific regulations to protect workers from falls into equipment in industrial settings.”
More than 800 people are employed at the Caterpillar foundry in Mapleton, Illinois, and the foundry manufactures “engine components used for construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives,” according to OSHA.
Caterpillar has 15 business days from the time of OSHA’s citation to either comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director to discuss the matter further or contest the findings and citation in front of the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
(NEW YORK) — Popeyes made waves in 2019 for its cult-favorite fried chicken sandwich that sold out, prompted copycat recipes and created a rivalry amongst competitors. Now, the culinary minds behind the popular item concocted a new menu addition with even more of its signature Cajun flavors.
The fast food chain debuted its “next great menu innovation: a breading-free, flavor-full Blackened Chicken Sandwich” on Tuesday.
The sandwich, which costs $4.99 and is available for a limited-time, is made with whole chicken breast that’s marinated for 12 hours, seasoned with a blend of Cajun and Creole spices and served atop a warm, toasted brioche bun with Popeyes’ house classic or spicy mayo and crunchy barrel-cured pickles.
“The Popeyes Culinary Team spent four years perfecting its version of the classic Blackening cooking technique, which originated in Louisiana and is used to better seal in seasoning and spices to flavor the meat, which then develops a crave-worthy, yet subtle browned or blackened crust,” Popeyes stated in a press release.
The brand said it’s “sure others will try to copy it again” and confidently boasted their new blackened chicken sandwich “can’t be surpassed by potential copycats.”
To double down, Popeyes kicked off a new campaign sharing the ingredients in the sandwich and inviting competitors and customers alike to recreate their own copy-cat version.
“Our Chicken Sandwich changed the QSR (quick service restaurant) industry back in 2019, and since then, we’ve continued to innovate within the category to give our guests what they want – even more Chicken Sandwich options,” President of Popeyes North America Sami Siddiqui, said in a statement. “After the immense success of the Chicken Sandwich, we wanted to reinvent the category of traditional grilled chicken sandwiches with our all-new take on a non-breaded option, the Popeyes Blackened Chicken Sandwich. We’re excited for guests to try this delicious new offering, and knowing our history for trendsetting, we have a feeling it may spark some copycat Blackened Chicken Sandwiches down the road.”
(NEW YORK) — Twitter has fired “dozens” of employees over comments they made on an internal Slack channel criticizing new owner Elon Musk, two former employees told ABC News.
“We regret to inform you that your employment is terminated effective immediately,” read an email from Twitter HR to some employees on Tuesday. “Your recent behavior has violated company policy.”
The two now-former employees told ABC News they received the emails overnight.
“I can only assume this was for not showing 100% loyalty on Slack,” said one of the employees, who asked to remain anonymous. “I have heard the same thing has happened to many others.”
In a tweet, seemingly confirming he fired employees critical of him in an internal Slack channel, Musk tweeted on Tuesday, “I would like to apologize for firing these geniuses. Their immense talent will no doubt be of great use elsewhere.”
Twitter did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment on the reported employee terminations.
Controversy has surrounded Musk since he purchased the social media site at the end of October for roughly $44 billion.
In the days since he acquired Twitter, Musk fired top executives, laid off half of the company’s staff, formed a content moderation council that will review account reinstatements and revamped the platform’s subscription service, Twitter Blue.
Shortly after the Twitter Blue overhaul, the company suspended the service that allowed users to access verification if they pay a monthly fee of $8 because of a rise of fake accounts impersonating public figures and brands, including Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, video game company Nintendo of America and even Tesla, the electric vehicle maker run by Musk.
Some Twitter contractors learned they’d been laid off when they lost access to their work email and Slack accounts on Saturday night, three sources tell ABC News. It is not yet clear how many people were impacted in this apparent second round of layoffs targeting contract employees.
Contractors began to share their dismay and disbelief in a team group chat late Saturday as contractors quickly realized they were locked out of their accounts.
“I also lost access,” one contractor in this group replied to another in the group chat reviewed by ABC News. “I am out,” said another contractor regarding their login credentials at Twitter.
In a Blind group chat amongst Twitter employees, one employee estimated that Twitter cut nearly 80% of its contractors yesterday. ABC News has not confirmed how many contractors were let go beyond the three contractors who share their stories, and several more who appeared to be let go based on their messages within the Health and Public Safety Team’s group chat.
Twitter has not replied to ABC News’ request for comment on the new layoffs, and neither has Surya Systems.
Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Balenciaga is saying “bye-bye” to Twitter.
Several users recently noticed that the luxury fashion label no longer had an account on the platform. Good Morning America has confirmed that the brand will no longer maintain a Twitter account moving forward.
While the brand has chosen not to make any further statements on its decision to leave Twitter, the news comes shortly after investor Elon Musk’s $44 billion buyout of the company last month.
Prior to leaving Twitter, Balenciaga’s account had millions of followers.
Several other notable public figures, such as Gigi Hadid and Shonda Rhimes, have also left their Twitter accounts behind in the wake of Musk’s takeover. Some have expressed disapproval of Musk’s leadership, claiming his buyout was detrimental to the platform.
“I deactivated my Twitter account today,” Hadid said in an Instagram story alongside a screenshot claiming Twitter’s entire human rights department had been laid off. “For a long time, but especially with its new leadership, it’s becoming more and more of a cesspool of hate & bigotry, and it’s not a place I want to be a part of.”
The screenshot featured a tweet from Twitter’s former human rights counsel Shannon Raj Singh, who claimed on Nov. 4 that the company’s full Human Rights team had been “cut from the company.”
“I am enormously proud of the work we did to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights, to protect those at-risk in global conflicts & crises including Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, and to defend the needs of those, particularly at risk of human rights abuse by virtue of their social media presence, such as journalists & human rights defenders,” Singh wrote at the time.
Musk’s Twitter takeover has been plagued with issues since day one. In addition to backlash over Musk’s decision to charge $8 for Twitter Blue subscriptions, which provide subscribers with a blue “verified” checkmark, the company has also faced internal upheaval, issuing mass layoffs, losing advertisers, and dealing with product issues that have caused some users to be locked out of their accounts, among other things. Additionally, Musk was forced to freeze new Twitter Blue subscription sign-ups after newly verified paid accounts began impersonating public figures, companies and legitimate media outlets.
The Federal Trade Commission stated last Thursday that it was “tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern.”
Meanwhile, a study from Montclair State University earlier in November showed a spike in hate speech on Twitter immediately following Musk’s takeover of the platform.
Balenciaga’s departure comes as other advertisers face increased pressure to consider their futures on the platform, with companies such as General Motors, GM, United Airlines, General Mills, and Mondelez International Inc. pulling ads from Twitter already.
Previously, Musk had threatened “a thermonuclear name & shame” of companies leaving Twitter, however he took a markedly different stance in a conversation with advertisers last week that was broadcast on the platform using the Twitter Spaces function. According to Reuters, over 100,000 listeners tuned into the conversation.
“I understand if people want to give it a minute … [but] the best way to see how things are evolving is just use Twitter,” he said, according to the outlet.
Musk has also attempted to smooth things over on his own official Twitter account. “Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months,” he tweeted on Nov. 9. “We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.”
Representatives for Twitter did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment for this story.
ABC News’ Melanie Schmitz contributed to this story.
