X Corp—X Corp laid off 80% of Trust & Safety engineers and dissolved advisory council after Musk acquisition
Following Elon Musk's October 2022 acquisition, X Corp (formerly Twitter) cut 80% of safety engineers (from 279 to 55), eliminated the entire 150-person curation team, and dissolved the Trust and Safety Council of 100 civil rights organizations. The head of Trust & Safety Yoel Roth resigned after two weeks under Musk; his successor Ella Irwin lasted 7 months. Multiple Trust & Safety heads have since departed citing conflicts with Musk's decisions.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content Moderation | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Digital Safety for Vulnerable Users | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Worker Rights | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.983 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (critical ×2) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
Twitter laid off 50% of staff including 80% of Trust & Safety engineers
Following Elon Musk's acquisition, Twitter cut 80% of safety engineers (from 279 to 55), eliminated the 150-person curation team, and dissolved the Trust and Safety Council. Australia's eSafety Commissioner confirmed the cuts in January 2024.