Elon Musk lays off thousands of Twitter employees in global slaughter over brutal P&O cuts

An estimated 3,700 Twitter workers worldwide were laid off by billionaire Elon Musk days after his £38 billion takeover, staff waking up to find laptops erased and their passes blocked

Elon Musk laid off around 3,750 employees worldwide on Friday

US billionaire Elon Musk carried out a mass worldwide elimination of Twitter staff on Friday days after his £38 billion takeover.

An estimated 3,700 employees worldwide, or half of its workforce, are set to lose their jobs, with most being notified by email.

Some UK employees have woken up to find their laptops have been "remotely wiped" and their access to company systems blocked.

A memo told them to go home if they were going to work because their passes wouldn't work.

Furious union bosses have called on the government to show Musk, the world's richest man, 'no one is above the law'.

The hard layoffs were compared to those at P&O earlier this year (

Picture:

Jeff Chiu/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

Tech workers' union Prospect compared it to the mass layoff of staff by ferry giant P&O this year. Corporate Secretary Mike Clancy said, "Twitter treats its employees appallingly."

He called the company a "digital P&O" and said "Big Tech barons" must still comply with employment laws.

Twitter sent out a memo Thursday night telling staff they would be getting emails the next day letting them know if their work was safe.

But many knew the writing was on the wall before then after they found themselves locked out of accessing emails.

Chris Younie tweeted: "Well that doesn't look promising. Can't connect to email. Mac won't turn on. But so thankful it's at 3am. Appreciate really thinking on the timing front."