We will be closing our coverage of the mass job cuts at Twitter shortly.

As things stand, reports have speculated that around half of Twitter's 8,000-strong worldwide workforce has been let go, but Twitter has yet to confirm this.

Workers that have been affected reportedly received an email on Friday confirming whether if they have been let go. That email informed them they would remain employed by the company and would continue to receive compensation through to 2 February 2023.

Thank you for joining us. Today's coverage was brought to you by Emily McGarvey, James Harness, Aoife Walsh, Thomas Mackintosh, Anna Boyd, Sam Hancock Jeremy Gahaghan, Emma Owen and Andrew Humphrey.

You can read more on this day of sweeping changes at Twitter here.

Twitter's new owner and boss Elon Musk may have cited the company's drop in revenue as motivation for today's job losses, but he has claimed he isn't in it for the money in an interview with the Financial Times, external.

The newspaper recently took Musk out to lunch and asked him why he was buying the company.

“I’m not doing Twitter for the money," he told the FT. "It’s not like I’m trying to buy some yacht and I can’t afford it. I don’t own any boats.

"But I think it’s important that people have a maximally trusted and inclusive means of exchanging ideas and that it should be as trusted and transparent as possible.”

He was also asked why he sometimes posts things on Twitter that seem to annoy or rile people up.

“I play the fool on Twitter and often shoot myself in the foot and cause myself all sorts of trouble... I don’t know, I find it vaguely therapeutic to express myself on Twitter. It’s a way to get messages out to the public.”

Image source, Twitter / @elonmusk

The moment Elon Musk entered Twitter HQ he did so in his usual style.

He was filmed brandishing a sink as he walked into the foyer which he tweeted with the caption "Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!", external.

The deal to buy the company hadn't yet been rubber stamped, but that didn't stop him changing his twitter bio to "Chief Twit".

That was on 26 October. The deal was sealed by 28 October - the date of a court-ordered deadline for the $44bn (£39.3bn) takeover.

It has been a long twisting road to San Francisco HQ. Here are just some of the key moments that led him there:

• 4 April, Musk increases stake in Twitter to over 9%
• 5 April, Twitter says Musk will join the company's board
• 10 April, Musk says he will not join Twitter's board
• 21 April, Musk secures $46.5bn of financing for the purchase
• 25 April, Twitter board accepts Musk's offer
• 13 May, Musk says the deal is on hold, pending a review of fake accounts
• 26 May, he is sued by Twitter investors for alleged 'stock manipulation'
• 6 June, Musk threatens to cancel the deal over lack of fake user account data
• 8 July, he announces he is cancelling the deal
• 10 July, Twitter prepares to sue Musk for pulling out
• 29 July, Musk counter sues Twitter
• 4 October, Musk announces plans to proceed with the original deal
• 6 October, a judge halts the Twitter vs Musk lawsuit until 28 October
• 25 October, Musk says he plans to finalise the deal by the 28th

Within hours of completing the takeover he fired several board members. He reportedly accused them of misleading investors over the number of fake accounts on the social media platform. He would go on to dissolve Twitter's board of directors.

Musk tweeted "the bird is free", external and "let the good times roll", external.

The staff he has fired, or who quit, may not share Musk's enthusiasm at securing his place at the boardroom table - and the company sink.

Image source, PA Media

Ireland is host to several tech giants' European headquarters, including Twitter, Google and Facebook - but Ireland's deputy prime minister believes such companies may have expanded "a little bit too quickly".

As we've been reporting, Twitter is announcing significant layoffs and one of its offices that could lose staff is in Dublin.

Speaking from Singapore while on a trade mission, tánaiste Leo Varadkar said his thoughts were with the employees at Twitter.

He told CNBC: "The number of vacancies in the sector still outweighs the number of people who are looking for employment, so even a slowdown or a downturn in the tech sector I think still means that you'll have some very successful companies making profits and a lot of people working in that sector.

"Tech is really big, but so is life sciences, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and indeed our food and drink industry, and that's just the traded sector.

"So we've been careful to make sure that we don't have all our eggs in one basket and that's been part of our success story."

We're hearing reports that around half of Twitter's 8,000-strong staff have been let go.

An internal document, seen by the AFP news agency, allegedly tells anyone being fired that they're losing their job alongside "roughly 50%" of their colleagues.

It also tells outgoing workers they'll be denied access to company computers and email on an immediate basis.

We're still waiting for Twitter to confirm this - if it does, we'll let you know.

UK employers are legally obliged to consult with staff if they plan to make 20 or more people redundant within a 90-day period, solicitor Danielle Parsons explains.

Representatives of the employees, which could be a union if the business recognises one, then have the opportunity to put forward arguments about how the job losses could be avoided.

They will usually come to an agreement with bosses about how staff will be chosen for redundancy and when they will leave the company.

Mrs Parsons, an employment partner at Irwin Mitchell says: “Once that process is completed, the employer should individually meet with affected employees before they issue redundancy notices.

"If they fail to go through the collective consultation process, the union or employee representative can bring claims against them and, if successful, will receive a protective award – which is a type of penalty.

"Plus, if they fail to go through individual consultation, employees who have worked for them for two years or more, will be able to bring claims of unfair dismissal.”

While we wait to see if Twitter confirms how many of its workers have been sacked, let's hear more from inside the event Elon Musk attended earlier.

Addressing the 29th Annual Baron Investment Conference, in New York, Musk repeated complaints that activists had pressured advertisers to stop spending money with Twitter, Reuters reports.

It follows a tweet he posted on the issue earlier, in which he accused such groups of trying to "destroy free speech in America".

"This is a major concern and I think this is frankly an attack on the First Amendment [that protects freedom of speech]," he told the event.

Musk also admitted Twitter had “pretty serious revenue challenges” before talks to buy the company started, and that his proposed charge for verification on the site is “only eight bucks a month, although some people were complaining about that."

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining us, or need a recap, here's a summary of the day's events so far:

• Twitter staff filed a class-action lawsuit claiming the social media company is sacking staff without enough notice, in violation of federal and California law (where it's based)
• Employees all around the world were asked to stay at home on Friday as the company closed its offices and suspended security badge access
• Several workers took to Twitter to say they had been locked out of their email and slack accounts and work computers had been wiped
• In an internal email sent to staff, Twitter said the layoffs are "an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path" and "unfortunately necessary to ensure the company's success moving forward"
• Workers were told that everyone would receive an email by 09:00 PST (16:00 GMT) informing them whether or not their job was safe
• That email, which was reportedly sent to laid off employees earlier, said they will continue to be employed by Twitter, and receive compensation and benefits through to 2 February 2023
• There has been speculation that as many as half of Twitter's workforce could be cut, but we are waiting to hear confirmation from Twitter

Earlier on Friday, Elon Musk blamed "activists" for a "massive drop in revenue" at Twitter. He claims that they are pressuring advertisers not to use Twitter.

It wasn't clear exactly who he was referring to but the BBC has just received a press release from a group called the #StopToxicTwitter coalition who say they are a group of more than 60 civil rights and civil society organisations, such as the Anti-Defamation League and Stop Hate for Profit.

They want advertisers to "stop buys on the platform in the wake of Elon Musk’s sweeping layoffs".

Nicole Gill, co-founder and executive director of Accountable Tech, says: “Unless and until Musk can robustly enforce Twitter’s existing community standards, the platform is not safe for users or advertisers."

Musk has previously said that nothing has changed with content moderation since he bought the company.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has left a business event in Manhattan.

The social media boss was silent as he climbed into his Tesla, after attending the 29th Annual Baron Investment Conference.

Photographers trying to take pictures of the controversial businessman were kept away by security.

While at the conference, Musk told the audience of investors he had paid too much for Twitter, according to Business Insider.

Anna Boyd
BBC News

'At-will employment' is used in most US states - it means that an employer can sack an employee for any reason (except an illegal one such as race discrimination), or no reason, with no warning.

But employees are also free to leave at any time.

Individual states can make exceptions to these rules - and some workers will have written contracts, but it's estimated around three quarters of the US workforce are considered at-will employees.

For example under Californian law, if more than 50 people are being laid off at the same time they should get a 60-day notice period.

Álvaro Leandro, an economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), said employment regulations are "much more flexible" in the US compared to the UK or the EU.

"It's easier to terminate employment and fire people in the US - that can be a good or bad thing."

The OECD collects data to rank countries in order of Strictness of Employee Protection , external- the US comes last.

Marthe de Ferrer
BBC News

Social media journalists like me are noticing that the lay-offs are having an immediate impact on how the platform delivers content to users.

Normally on the #Explore tab you'd see trends and Twitter Moments - curated threads created by news outlets.

These stories are usually updated on an ongoing basis, reflecting both the news agenda and a user's own interests.

But now everything is at least a day or two old, with virtually nothing appearing from within the last 24 hours.

On my news tab, for example, there's a story from two days ago about Celebrations removing Bounty bars.

This is a notable change from Twitter's usual curation process, which was constantly refreshing its suggested content.

Image source, Twitter

James Clayton
North America technology reporter

It’s very quiet outside Twitter HQ in San Francisco. We’re set up with a camera and lots of people are stopping to ask us what is happening.

We’ve been asked multiple times by passers if Elon Musk is in the building (he isn't, he's been in New York).

Photographers with long lenses looking for Twitter staff exiting are hanging out across the street.

Most of Twitter’s 8,000 or so staff aren’t here - they’re working from home. They’re finding out about the future of their jobs on sofas and home offices.

And there’s still some confusion about what is going on in the HQ - some still haven’t heard whether they have been fired.

Image source, Reuters

Elon Musk has just told an audience of wealthy investors in New York that he paid too much for Twitter and he wanted to get out of the deal.

Musk is attending the Baron Investment Conference in Manhattan as Twitter staff are learning whether or not they still have a job.

The billionaire bought Twitter for $44bn.

According to Business Insider, external, he told an audience on Friday: "I tried to get out of the deal, it was like that scene from The Godfather.

"I mean I think most people would say, given how market has evolved this year, the price is on the high side."

We're not sure what scene he is referring to in The Godfather, the classic film about the Mafia. Hopefully not the one involving a horse's head.

James Clayton
North America technology reporter

I'm outside Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. I’m hearing some staff still haven’t been told whether they have been fired or not.

It's a horribly tense time for them.

Image source, Getty Images

Twitter has now emailed the employees which it is laying off in a mass job cull - according to US tech website Insider.

It says the email sent to employees says: "Today is your last working day at the company."

It goes on to say they will remain employed by Twitter and will receive compensation and benefits through to 2 February 2023.

"During this time, you will be on a Non-Working Notice period and your access to Twitter systems will be deactivated," it reads.

It said staff are not expected to work during this period, but are still required to comply with all company policies, including the "Employee Playbook and Code of Conduct".

Staff will receive details of a severance offer within a week, the email said, and financial resources extending beyond their Non-Working Notice period.

"At that time you will also receive a Separation Agreement and Release of Claims and other offboarding," it says.

Image source, Reuters

As we wait for confirmation of Elon Musk's job cuts plan, here's what he has been getting up to today.

He was photographed getting out of a limousine at the 29th Annul Baron Investment Conference, in Manhattan, New York.

Musk tweeted earlier about a "massive drop" in Twitter's revenue, which he blamed on "activist groups" pressurising companies to withdraw their advertising on the platform, but has so far stayed silent on the expected job losses.

The ongoing disruption at Twitter continues to dominate the internet, according to findings by our colleagues who are monitoring social media platforms.

As we've been reporting, employees of Twitter have been posting online that they believe they've lost their jobs, ahead of an expected communication by the company at about 16:00 GMT.

The term 'Twitter layoffs' has garnered 20,000+ searches over the last hour.

Employees and supporters are chatting about their experiences via the hashtag #OneTeam.

One employee Rachel Bonn, who is eight months pregnant, says access to her work laptop was cut off on Thursday night, hours after Elon Musk said layoffs would be announced via email.

Bonn posted an image of herself with her nine-month-old baby in front of rows of pumpkins. That has received 4,000+ reactions.

One aspect of Twitter's work which appears to have been given the axe is its curation team.

It was responsible for highlighting and providing context to stories and events which unfolded on the platform making it possible for people to get the most out of the platform regardless of the accounts they follow.

Andrew Haigh says he resigned from his role within the company last week, leaving on his own terms.