February 28, 2023
Twitter has announced that as part of its restructuring plan, it will lay off approximately 200 employees. According to the New York Times, the layoffs will affect employees across departments, including engineering and product teams.
Esther Crawford, the creator of a popular sleeping bag meme on the platform, was among those affected. Esther Crawford, CEO of Twitter Payments, who oversaw the Twitter Blue verification subscription model, said in a tweet that she was “deeply proud of my team” after being among those released.
Though Crawford did not confirm her dismissal (her Twitter bio still stated that she was employed by the company as of Monday morning), she did send a message to her followers that appeared to be directed at those who mocked her during the sleeping bag controversy.
Martijn de Kuijper, senior product manager at Revue, which Twitter acquired in 2021, said he found out he was fired after being locked out of his work emails.
The layoffs, according to the company, were part of a plan to prioritize and streamline its workforce while investing in key areas of growth. This is the latest round of job cuts at Twitter since CEO Elon Musk laid off roughly half of the company’s 7,500 employees when he took over in October.
The sources for this piece include an article in BBC.
