Musk warns of Twitter 'bankruptcy' as key executives quit

The US FTC is monitoring the company with 'deep concern'

Twitter may go bankrupt, said new owner Elon Musk, capping a chaotic day that saw three senior executives quit the company and the US regulator send a warning.

According to Bloomberg News, Musk told Twitter employees on a call that the company was losing so much money that bankruptcy was not out of the question.

After acquiring Twitter for $44 billion on October 27, Musk began aggressively firing staff and said the firm was losing more than $4 million per day, partly as a result of advertisers abandoning the platform after he took charge.

Companies have been put off by Musk's haphazard approach to content moderation and product launches, with several pausing ad-buying on Twitter.

The 'Chief Twit' attempted to assuage their fears in a live stream on Wednesday, led by head of safety and integrity Yoel Roth and head of client solutions Robin Wheeler. Roth left the company the following day.

Initial reports suggested that Wheeler had done the same. However, she was apparently convinced to stay, tweeting "I'm still here" on Thursday evening.

"So the two people Elon brought forward to talk with advertisers in an attempt to convince them to keep partnering with the company just quit," tweeted Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, before Wheeler's tweet. "Companies that stay with Twitter at this point will be tied to these dangerous and unhinged policy changes."

The exodus didn't stop there. On Thursday, Twitter's CISO Lea Kissner announced they had resigned from their role in the company, as have chief compliance officer Marianne Fogarty and chief privacy officer Damien Kieran.

Following the departure of three key executives, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it was monitoring Twitter with 'deep concern.'

The resignations of key security and compliance staff may put Twitter in violation of regulatory orders.

"We are tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern," Douglas Farrar, the FTC's director of public affairs, told Reuters.

"No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees. Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them."

Twitter could be fined millions of dollars for disobeying FTC orders.

An attorney on Twitter's privacy team said Musk was putting the firm at danger of billions in penalties. The message, seen by The Verge, was posted to the company's Slack channel and was visible to all employees.

"Elon has shown that his only priority with Twitter users is how to monetise them. I do not believe he cares about the human rights activists, the dissidents, our users in un-monetisable regions, and all the other users who have made Twitter the global town square you have all spent so long building, and we all love," the attorney said.

Musk's new legal team is now requiring engineers to 'self-certify' compliance to FTC rules and other privacy laws.

"I anticipate that all of you will be pressured by management into pushing out changes that will likely lead to major incidents," the lawyer wrote, advising employees to seek whistleblower protection if they feel "uncomfortable about anything you're being asked to do."

Musk cracks the whip to bring staff back to the office

Separately, Musk has also told Twitter employees that working from home is no longer permitted, and they must spend at least 40 hours a week in the office from now on.

Back in May 2020, Twitter had promised employees they could work from home 'forever' if they wanted. Some will doubtless have arranged their lives around that statement.

Musk has a dim view of remote working, taking to - ironically - Twitter earlier this year to share his thoughts.

"All the Covid stay-at-home stuff has tricked people into thinking that you don't actually need to work hard," he said. "Rude awakening inbound!"

You would think that, in the middle of a drive to save money, ditching office space would be a smart move, but Musk is of the firm view that staff he can't personally see aren't working. We think he might be projecting his own insecurities - Ed.