Elon Musk, as reported by Reuters, has told his bankers that he plans to close his deal to purchase Twitter by Friday. Musk faces a deadline of the end of this week to close the deal or else face trial in Delaware Chancery Court. 

Musk, the Washington Post said last week, plans to eliminate 75 percent of the company's current staff, dropping the headcount from 7,500 to 2,000. But it’s not clear that such steep cuts will take place. 

Twitter General Counsel Sean Edgett, CNN said, later stated that Twitter does “not have any confirmation of the buyer’s plans following close and recommend not following rumors or leaked documents but rather wait for facts from us and the buyer directly.” 

Meanwhile, employees at the company are circulating an open letter stating that they, as Twitter workers, “believe the public conversation is in jeopardy.” Time magazine published the text of that letter. 

“Elon Musk’s plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter’s ability to serve the public conversation. A threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users’ and customers’ trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation,” the text of the letter said, going on to tout the role Twitter is playing in protests everywhere from Iran to Ukraine.

“A threat to workers at Twitter is a threat to Twitter’s future. These threats have an impact on us as workers and demonstrate a fundamental disconnect with the realities of operating Twitter. They threaten our livelihoods, access to essential healthcare, and the ability for visa holders to stay in the country they work in. We cannot do our work in an environment of constant harassment and threats. Without our work, there is no Twitter.”

The letter went on to make several demands of the current and future leadership of the company for respect, safety, protection, and dignity. 

“We call on Twitter management and Elon Musk to cease these negligent layoff threats. As workers, we deserve concrete commitments so we can continue to preserve the integrity of our platform,” the letter said. 

Fox News reported later in the day that the authors of the letter had been “mocked” as “entitled.” ABC News, meanwhile, quoted experts who stated that Musk’s proposed cuts would gut content moderation.  

"Content moderation will be a lot harder without people doing content moderation," Zeve Sanderson, the executive director at New York University's Center for Social Media and Politics, told the network. "If there is more harassment and other forms of toxic speech, if there is more misinformation and disinformation, then people's experience on the platform is going to be really different.”

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters.