Twitter has been courting controversy ever since Elon Musk made an offer to acquire the micro-blogging site. Things kept on escalating and even after Musk’s acquisition, the company has continued to be in the news. From layoffs to policy changes, the twitterati have seen everything and one common thread amongst all these are the Twitter lawsuits. The number keeps adding up.
After declaring himself “Chief Twit,” Elon Musk conducted mass layoffs, reportedly without following proper procedure. Even before the layoffs, Musk was sued by the Twitter board for trying to back out of the multi-billion-dollar deal. And now the blue birdie has become an albatross around the billionaire’s neck. It has affected people’s views on him as a self-proclaimed advocate of free speech, Tesla’s share prices, and even the functioning of the company in crisis.
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Twitter lawsuits have now added to the company’s woes. From a social media site that was known for trending events to becoming a network that is always in the news, Twitter’s fall has been anything but graceful.
In this piece, let us take a look at the lawsuits bleeding the troubled site dry and why it is battling ill-repute.
Twitter Lawsuits Set to Bleed the Company
The first lawsuit started with Elon Musk making a $44 billion offer for the social media site. But later when he tried to back out of the deal, the Twitter board wasted no time in taking him to court. It was the start of an avalanche of lawsuits that is now threatening to suffocate the company.
Ex-employees Sue Twitter
Elon Musk’s first order of business after completing the Twitter deal was firing over half of all employees. He also asked the remaining staff to return to office. As expected, this did not go down well with most and some former employees took Twitter to court over wrong termination.
The lawsuit alleges that the company did not give due notice and also reneged on promises of remote work. However, in January 2023, a US District Judge told the plaintiffs that they cannot pursue it as a group suit. Judge James Donato cited arbitration agreements the ex-employees signed with the company earlier in making his decision. Twitter ex-employees will now have to proceed with the case individually in closed-door hearings.
Shannon Liss-Riordan, the lawyer, representing the aggrieved parties mentioned that she had filed 300 claims for arbitration and expects to file hundreds more in the coming months. Twitter’s ex-employees are seeking unspecified monetary damages for not following federal and California labor laws.
In all, she is responsible for filing four Twitter lawsuits including complaints related to gender discrimination and alleged disability.
Twitter Taken to Court Over Unpaid Dues
Consulting firm Analysis Group Inc is suing Twitter for non-payment of dues to the tune of $2.2 million after it provided lawyers for the case against Elon Musk’s bid for Twitter. The Boston-based group was hired by twitter to provide support to the three law firms engaged by the company in its case against Musk. The consulting firm is demanding payment for its services in its latest Twitter lawsuit. With multiple teams of professionals to “advance Twitter’s interest in the Musk litigation.”
Analysis Group’s lawsuit claims that the company engaged its services to fight Musk when he tried to backtrack out of the Twitter deal.
Earlier, Twitter was taken to court by advisory firm Innisfree M&A Incorporated for non-payment of dues worth $2 million. The advisory firm filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court stating that the social media site is yet to honor its obligations.
A landlord is also allegedly suing the company for not paying rent for one of its San Francisco properties. The complaint filed in January in the California Superior Court in San Francisco states that Twitter did not pay $136,260 for its office space, which is not the headquarters. Earlier, Musk had stopped paying rent for all of Twitter’s global properties as he struggled to find ways to cut costs.
According to one attorney, this might be a tactic by Twitter to renegotiate rent agreements as having Twitter as a tenant is a lucrative deal. But regardless, the lax attitude has irked landlords and if Twitter continues this it could signal the end of some partnerships. Musk’s Twitter experiments have continued to make news as the billionaire tries to come up solution that sticks.
Twitter’s woes do not just end with lawsuits. Recent reports indicate that more than half of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers have reduced spending or exit the platform after the takeover deal. For a company struggling to stand on its own, losing advertisers and battling lawsuits is a costly affair and will considerably push back its profitability goals. Musk also revamped the subscription service in an attempt to bring in revenue.
In a tweet on February 5, CEO Elon Musk had revealed that Twitter is pushing towards break-even status and public support is much appreciated.
