Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022. The billionaire has subsequently rebranded the social networking site X and fired off 6,000 people, accounting for nearly 80% of the company's total employment. The extreme reduction announced by Elon Musk when he took over X has been replicated in numerous tech businesses across the world subsequently.

Following the purchase, Elon Musk turned the social media firm private, making his actions less transparent, and within months of purchasing Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, he had dismissed half of its employees. He warned the remaining employees to expect "extremely hardcore" working hours "at high intensity" as he called Steve Davis and James Musk in to assess if existing personnel represented value for money.

Twitter employees were required to defend their responsibilities and even decide if their own colleagues should be kept. Job cuts impacted areas such as diversity and inclusion, product development, and design. Even Twitter's content moderation crew was not immune.

The Telegraph stated, quoting an insider, "It was definitely very fat. You needed to right-size the organization. "When he cuts a team, he cuts the entire team, causing significant chaos."

After reports surfaced that Elon Musk intended to reduce Twitter's workforce in October 2022, Brad Gerstner, an investor at Altimeter Capital, wrote to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, "It is a poorly kept secret in Silicon Valley that companies ranging from Google to Meta to Twitter to Uber could achieve similar levels of revenue with far fewer people."

Twitter employees were expected to defend their duties and even determine whether their own coworkers should be retained. Job losses affected departments such as diversity and inclusion, product development, and design. Even the Twitter content moderation team was not exempt.

The Telegraph quoted an insider as saying, "It was definitely very fat." You needed to right-size the organization. When he cuts a team, he cuts the entire squad, resulting in widespread mayhem."