In the bid to find $1 billion in annual infrastructure cost savings, Twitter is looking to begin cutting work staff soon, under orders from its new owner, Elon Musk, raising concern that the social networking site might not be able to handle upcoming high-traffic events like the midterms in the US. 

Following a week of uncertainty about the company’s future, Twitter’s employees will be informed via email on Friday whether they have been laid off, and if they would be temporarily closing their offices as well as preventing staff access. 

A copy of the email obtained by Reuters read: “In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday.”

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The badge access of the employees will be suspended in order “to help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data,” the email additionally read. Staff who have been laid off will be notified of the next steps they need to follow, via their personal email addresses. 

What is Elon Musk’s ‘Deep Cuts’ plan?

Musk’s project which is called ‘Deep Cuts’ is aimed at finding between $1.5 million and $3 million a day in savings from servers and cloud services as Twitter is currently losing about $3 million a day “with all spending and revenue considered,” according to an internal document. 

These tall infrastructure cuts mean that Twitter’s website and app can find themselves running the risk of breaking down during critical events such as the upcoming midterm elections in the US when an increasing number of users are rushing to the platform to consume and share information.

Also Read | Twitter to start layoffs, notifies staff via internal email: Report

According to a source, the social media platform is contemplating cutting extra server space which is set aside to ensure that Twitter can handle high traffic, one source said.

“(Musk) is willing to introduce that risk to meet these goals,” the person said. A second source described the proposed cuts as “delusional,” as a surge in traffic on the site and the app can lead to the service failing “in spectacular ways.”