美国国家公共电台 NPR--Elon Musk expected to begin mass Twitter layoffs

Elon Musk¹ expected to begin mass Twitter layoffs²

Transcript³

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Washington Post technology reporter Will Oremus about layoffs at Twitter and what the shake-up means for people who use the platform.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Employees at Twitter are getting emails today, letting them know whether or not they still have a job. Just a week after business tycoon⁴ Elon Musk acquired the social media platform, Twitter's offices in San Francisco are closed, and none of the staff are allowed in. Joining us is Will Oremus. He's a technology reporter at The Washington Post. Good morning, Will.

WILL OREMUS: Good morning.

FADEL: So on his first day, Elon Musk fired a number of top executives at Twitter. Others have quit. And reports have been circulating that as many as half of all the people who work for Twitter could be laid off. What does all this turmoil⁵ mean for users on the platform?

OREMUS: So Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion at a time when the market for digital advertising⁶ was much stronger and the economy in general was stronger. Analysts⁷ now think the company is probably worth about half that amount.

FADEL: OK.

OREMUS: But Musk now has massive debt to pay off. He has to pay off about a billion dollars a year in interest payments, and Twitter's entire revenue last year was around $5 billion. So he's making swift and dramatic cuts across the company as he tries to engineer an overhaul⁸ of Twitter's business.

FADEL: So he needs these layoffs to make up for that loss.

OREMUS: He does. And he also needs new revenue streams, which is why we've seen Musk pushing very hard for the idea of people paying $8 a month to subscribe⁹ to something called Twitter Blue, which is going to be a premium¹⁰ version of the service that gives you certain perks¹¹ like verification, that little blue checkmark next to your name when you tweet on Twitter.

FADEL: Which a lot of verified people have been scoffing¹² at online recently. Now, we've seen multiple reports of a class-action lawsuit¹³ filed in San Francisco over these layoffs from employees. What do we know about the lawsuit and what other responses there have been from employees at Twitter to these layoffs?

OREMUS: The entire situation around the firings and the layoffs has been murky¹⁴.

FADEL: OK.

OREMUS: It's clear from our sources that Musk is trying to minimize the amount of severance¹⁵ he has to pay. There are reports that he is trying to fire the top executives for cause, which would deny them the so-called golden parachute payouts of tens of millions of dollars that they were contractually owed. As for the employees, we're hearing that maybe they will be kept on payroll¹⁶ for a while, technically¹⁷, as part of the - under California law. Details about severance are not clear yet. It's all up in the air, and there will almost certainly be more lawsuits¹⁸ to come.

FADEL: Wow, so a lot that's unclear right now. And, you know, when we saw - we just saw that Musk met with civil rights leaders and promised to keep guardrails up through the midterms on Tuesday over hate speech. And that's something that came after an immediate¹⁹ spike²⁰ in hate speech after Musk acquired the platform. So my question is, could these layoffs affect enforcing those rules, enforcing those guardrails?

OREMUS: Absolutely. Musk took over Twitter partly on the premise²¹ that he wanted to make it more of a platform for unfettered free speech...

FADEL: Right.

OREMUS: ...Which sounds great. Everybody loves free speech. In practice, on social media, that tends to mean relaxing rules against things like hate speech, harassment²², doxxing people's private information. When - as soon as Musk took over the company, right-wing trolls were thrilled. They started using the N-word, trying to test the boundaries. Now, Twitter's rules have not yet changed. Musk is trying to assure advertisers that the content policies that were in place before will remain in place for the time being. He has said that he will not yet reinstate people who have been banned like Donald Trump²³. He wants to start a content moderation council to review such decisions. But these cuts will absolutely have an impact on Twitter's ability to enforce those policies that are already on the books.

FADEL: Washington Post technology reporter Will Oremus, thank you so much for your reporting.

OREMUS: Thanks for having me.

1 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

2 layoffs   

临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 )； 停工，停止活动

参考例句：

• Textile companies announced 2000 fresh layoffs last week. 各纺织公司上周宣布再次裁员两千人。
• Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs. 当公司突然宣布裁员时，股票价格便大跌

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 tycoon   

n.有钱有势的企业家，大亨

参考例句：

• The tycoon is on the verge of bankruptcy.那名大亨濒临破产的边缘。
• The tycoon has many servants to minister to his needs.那位大亨有很多人服侍他。

5 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

6 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

7 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

8 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

9 subscribe   

vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助

参考例句：

• I heartily subscribe to that sentiment.我十分赞同那个观点。
• The magazine is trying to get more readers to subscribe.该杂志正大力发展新订户。

10 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

11 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

12 scoffing   

n. 嘲笑, 笑柄, 愚弄 v. 嘲笑, 嘲弄, 愚弄, 狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• They were sitting around the table scoffing. 他们围坐在桌子旁狼吞虎咽地吃着。
• He the lid and showed the wonderful the scoffing visitors. 他打开盖子给嘲笑他们的老人看这些丰富的收获。

13 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

14 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

15 severance   

n.离职金；切断

参考例句：

• Those laid off received their regular checks,plus vacation and severance pay.那些被裁的人都收到他们应得的薪金，再加上假期和解职的酬金。Kirchofer was terminated,effective immediately--without severance or warning.科奇弗被解雇了，立刻生效--而且没有辞退费或者警告。

16 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

17 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

18 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

19 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

20 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

21 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

22 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

23 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。