Elon Musk warns of ‘difficult times ahead’ as Twitter loses ad revenue

Employees have said that Elon Musk is saving face, downplaying the apparent risks that Twitter faces as ad revenue continues to be an issue, AP reports. Musk held a town hall-type meeting via the website's Spaces function to address such issues earlier in the week, wherein he spoke publicly with Twitter staff and concerned users.

"Sorry that this is my first email to the whole company, but there is no way to sugarcoat the message," wrote Musk in a Wednesday email.

"Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn," Musk said. "We need roughly half of our revenue to be subscription."

Musk also gave a return-to-office order, stating in a Thursday staff meeting that some "exceptional employees could seek an exemption, and that others who didn’t like the order could quit.

An employee speaking with the Associated Press also stated that Musk is appearing to downplay concerns from employees regarding how a smaller Twitter workforce following layoffs could handle obligations to privacy and security standards.

Musk has stated publicly that the site has lost advertisers despite not having made any major changes to site policies. Musk went so far as to say that malicious forces were pressuring ad agencies to pull ad funding and that those groups were "trying to destroy free speech in America."

Musk tweeted last week, "Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America."

His statements came after meetings with leftist leaders who wrote and co-signed an open letter to advertisers to "suspend Twitter ads globally if Musk can’t commit to enforcing the brand- and community-safety rules already on the platform’s books."

IPG, a major ad brokerage, advised clients, including American Express, Coca-Cola, and Johnson & Johnson, to pause advertising on Twitter for one next week earlier this month until the company gives more details about its plans to protect trust and safety.