XPost: alt.politics.media, alt.politics.radical-left, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: alt.politics.democrats, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: flushing@lefty.queers   
      
   After laying off half its staff earlier this month, Twitter on Saturday   
   started culling its vast ranks of contract staff, sources confirmed to   
   Axios.   
      
   Why it matters: Like many companies, Twitter's staff is made up of a mix   
   of full-time employees as well as contract workers who work for a third   
   party.   
      
   Details: Twitter has cut an unspecified number of contractors in various   
   fields, including content moderation, sources confirmed to Axios.   
      
   Many contractors' status has been in limbo since Twitter cut half its   
   staff earlier this month, with some not knowing whom to even report to,   
   since their counterparts inside the company have been laid off.   
      
   Now some worry about their final paychecks since their teams no longer   
   have any full-time Twitter employees to sign off on their time cards,   
   sources tell Axios.   
      
   The contractor cuts were noted earlier Saturday by Platformer's Casey   
   Newton.   
      
   Between the lines: In at least some cases, if not all, workers did not get   
   any direct communication from Twitter saying that their work had ended.   
      
   They instead found out by seeing their access to Twitter computer systems   
   had been shut off.   
      
   This parallels the scene when full-time employees found out they had lost   
   their job, not from a promised e-mail on Friday, but overnight on Thursday   
   as they lost access to e-mail and other corporate computing systems.   
      
   Twitter has since reached out to re-hire some full-time employees after   
   realizing their skills were critical to existing projects, including new   
   features that were a priority to the company.   
      
   Some contractors, meanwhile, are concerned about getting paid for the last   
   two weeks as a number of contractors ended up on teams with no full-time   
   Twitter employees, leaving no one to sign off on their time cards, sources   
   tell Axios.   
   The big picture: Twitter has been in a state of turmoil since Elon Musk   
   took over, with products and features launched then pulled.   
      
   That includes a new version of its Twitter Blue subscription service that   
   allows subscribers to have the same blue checkmark given to verified   
   accounts of politicians, journalists, government agencies and celebrities.   
      
   Twitter put that on hold earlier this week after a flood of impersonators   
   used the subscription service to impersonate various brands and prominent   
   athletes and politicians.   
      
   What they're saying: Melissa Ingle, a San Francisco-based content   
   moderation contractor specializing in political misinformation, was among   
   those cut.   
      
   Ingle, who has two master's degrees and teaches data science skills, said   
   she was surprised by the move, and concerned about providing for her   
   family with the holidays approaching.   
      
   "I am the person you want at your company," she told Axios. "This is no   
   way to treat people."   
      
   Twitter has cut its entire communications staff and there was no immediate   
   response to an e-mail to the company's press account.   
      
   Editor's note: This story has been update with additional detail about   
   contractors' concerns.   
      
      
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)