Civil rights groups condemn Musk’s Twitter mass layoffs, urge companies to pause ads

(The Hill) – Numerous civil rights and other advocacy leaders have criticized Elon Musk’s Twitter mass firings and maintain safety and election integrity measures on platforms ahead of Election Day It undermines his commitment to the organization that

Thursday’s report showed Musk Plans to cut about half of Twitter’s workThe layoffs, widely reported and pointed out by staff on the platform itself, caused an uproar, pushing civil rights groups to escalate calls to advertisers and suspend all advertising on Twitter.

Color of Change President Rashad Robinson, one of the leaders Musk met earlier this weekthe Twitter CEO appeared to be “honest and sincere” at the time, but the group said it was clear they would step up the pressure if he broke his promise.

“It was clear that actions speak louder than words,” Robinson said.

60+ Civil Rights The group has asked advertisers to pause their ads on Twitter, and earlier this week it suspended ads from companies if Musk followed his instructions to ease content moderation on the site. I am calling you to do so.

Advertisers have already pulled out of the platform. Associated Press reportted on thursday General Mills and Audi are among the companies that have paused advertising on their platforms.

“[Advertisers] Twitter needs to be done away with and Elon Musk needs to prove it and regain its credibility and get its business back,” said Angelo Carusone, president of left-wing learning watchdog Media Matters.

Musk on Friday countered the coalition’s pressure campaign, maintaining that “nothing has changed in content moderation and that we have done everything we can to appease activists,” while in an effort to criticize Twitter for ” He admitted that he had seen a “significant drop in revenue.”

Free Press co-CEO Jessica González, who attended Musk’s conference earlier this week, said the staffing cuts alone show Musk won’t be able to moderate content at the level he promised to maintain.

“Without staff, we cannot enforce content moderation policies. AI alone cannot solve these problems.