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Elon Musk is contradiction personified. On the one hand, he rightly champions freedom of expression; on the other hand, he arbitrarily kicks off Kanye West (Ye) from Twitter. He was all-praise for Matt Taibbi during the Twitter Files saga, only to discard that journalist with nary a thought when Substack Notes threatened Twitter’s primacy. These contradictions now extend to Twitter’s operations as well, where a threadbare workforce is struggling to perform day-to-day tasks – a necessary sacrifice that Musk is willing to endure as long as Twitter turns cash flow positive this quarter but one that threatens the long-term viability of the global town square.

As per the reporting by Business Insider, Twitter’s headcount is now down to just around 1,000 employees. This is the lowest headcount at Twitter since at least 2011 when only around 400 employees worked on the company’s payroll. For reference, Twitter’s headcount stood at 7,800 employees back in October 2022.

Of course, some layoffs were expected to squeeze efficiency gains. However, an 87 percent reduction in employees is patently unsustainable and is now taking its toll on Twitter’s day-to-day operations. For instance, when employees are not busy catering to Musk’s ever-changing vision for Twitter or resolving bugs, they are subjected to “constant” performance reviews and investigations related to the growing leaks to the media. Oftentimes, employees are let-go without any explanation, which contributes to the current off-the-charts churn at Twitter.

"Twitter’s Unpaid Bills Threaten to Be an Even Bigger Problem for Elon Musk. At least 10 vendors have sued the company, claiming it has not paid them money it owes them." https://t.co/mpRbwavHIV#scumbag

— Stanphyl Capital ❌ (@StanphylCap) May 4, 2023

To add to this prevailing level of dysfunction at Twitter, the company is now apparently struggling to pay its bills.

Twitter’s Advertisers Hold All of the Cards for Now

Of course, Twitter has had some successes. After all, it now has around 250 million Daily Active Users (DAUs), according to an estimate by Apptopia. For reference, this number constitutes an increase of 2.46 percent relative to the 244 million DAUs that Twitter boasted just six months back.

However, with the Twitter Blue initiative failing to turn into a cash cow, the company’s dependence on advertisers continues to obstruct its financial health. Over the first three months that followed its launch in December 2022, Twitter Blue has generated just $11 million in revenue, according to Sensor Tower. This figure was based on 385,000 Twitter Blue subscribers across iOS and Android, with each subscriber paying $8 per month. As per another analysis back in April, there are now around 500,000 Twitter Blue subscribers. This number equates to just 0.2 percent of Twitter’s DAUs.

So, with Twitter Blue continuing to struggle for momentum, the advertisers have all the cards, at least in the short term. With 37 of the top 100 advertisers of the pre-Musk era refusing to spend a single dime on Twitter in the first quarter of 2023 and another 24 advertisers in this list curtailing their ad spend on the platform by around 80 percent, the advertisers are in no mood to play ball.

As we noted in a previous post, Elon Musk has been trying to attract content creators, who would soon get the ability to provide their subscribers and followers with a wide variety of content, ranging from long-form text to hours-long videos. These changes would place Twitter as the direct competitor of Google’s YouTube. This subscription option is available to all users who are above 18, have at least 500 followers, and have posted a minimum of 25 tweets within the last 30 days.

While the initiative is innovative, it is Elon Musk’s polarizing figure that is thwarting Twitter’s rise at this stage.

Elon Musk’s Expedient Approach to Moderation

We here at Wccftech Finance maintain absolute political neutrality. I have nothing against Elon Musk if he chooses to place himself at the left, right, or center of politics. But I do have an issue when Musk’s views are driven by expediency, as was illustrated by the Kanye West episode.

In a similar vein, during a Friday night appearance on Bill Maher’s show, Elon Musk explained his views on the “woke mind virus” in the following words:

“I think we need to be very cautious about anything that is anti-meritocratic and anything that results in the suppression of free speech.”

He went on to state:

“So, those are two of the aspects of the woke mind virus that I think are very dangerous, is that it’s often very anti-meritocratic, and you can’t question things. Even the questioning is bad.”

One would not fault Elon Musk if he truly stood for freedom of expression and against the “woke” mentality were it not for a whiff of self-serving expediency that one gets from perusing his stance on this issue.

Elon Musk pounds the table long and hard about the “freedom of speech and not freedom of reach” policy. But then he arbitrarily kicks Kanye West (Ye) to the curb and degrades Twitter’s operational compatibility with Substack. He regularly pokes fun at others but is quick to ban the account of the comedian Kathy Griffin. Just a few days back, Elon Musk took a proverbial machete to the "Block the Blue" movement by blocking the ability of non-paying Twitter accounts to see verified notifications, and then nuking the movement's Twitter account entirely. One day he slaps "state-affiliated media" tags on the accounts of BBC and NPR, and then backtracks soon after as the advertisers revolt.

It is this subtly changing, expedient approach to moderation that is hurting Elon Musk’s credibility, giving influential content creators a pause, and empowering advertisers, many of whom hate his proverbial guts.

Can Twitter survive on a threadbare headcount and recalcitrant advertisers? Time will tell. In the meantime, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.