How will Twitter fare during next week’s World Cup? Will it make it through despite a highly crippled workforce? Twitter currently operates with only 36% of its staff before Elon Musk took over. Twitter has reportedly gone from 7,500 staff down to 2,700, with many former staffers warning that the app could crash, potentially forever, due to the increased strain. It might, but it hasn’t, with Musk continuing to tout ‘record high’ usage rates.
Crash Course
So, will it actually go down? What impacts are users seeing thus far as a result of that reduction in headcount? Let’s take a look at some of the problems users are noticing in the app:
- Broken Copyright System
Various reports say that Twitter’s copy strike system is broken, which has enabled users to upload full-length movies into Tweet threads and have them remain, without being detected or removed. Mashable lists it as the first major example of a significant flaw in Twitter’s oversight systems. The fact that Twitter, pre-Musk, failed to detect and remove child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity at scale.
- Advertiser Issues
Twitter advertisers report a problem with everything, in every sense of the word. Ads Manager log-in, ad placement, campaign performance – these are but some of the problems advertisers are reporting directly to Twitter which they also attribute to a lack of oversight at Twitter HQ. This has already prompted many to pause their Twitter ad spend entirely till these are addressed.
- Exposing Private Tweets
Some reports also speak of Tweets from private accounts being made viewable to non-followers in the app. This could be a particularly significant issue, but as various users have noted, this is a technical glitch that’s existed on Twitter for some time. It might be getting worse, and that’s what’s really bothering.
- Small Stumbles
Nuisances, to say the least. Here’s a short list:
- Being unable to view replies
- Repeatedly seeing certain tweets at the top of the feed
- Longer load times
- Time-scrambled DMs
- Replies showing above the main post
- Video loading issues
The Wrap
In short, there’s a lot to handle at Twitter, and while some of these have been long-standing issues that Twitter had constantly grappled with, it’s safe to assume that the massive staff reductions have impacted overall platform performance. What’s important right now is that Musk believes that the app is still on the right track. Musk says that his company reorganization is almost complete, which will see him take a step back from working on Twitter, likely from next week. For everyone’s sake, let’s hope that holds true.
Sources