Twitter reassigns Singapore-based employees as remote workers

Twitter's staff in Singapore have been reassigned as remote workers by the company according to Bloomberg. Employees were asked to vacate Twitter's main APAC office by end of day Wednesday, a source had told the publication, adding that Twitter's internal systems were listing Singapore-based employees as remote workers until futher notice.

Initial reports of the move suggested staff had been asked to leave the CapitaGreen office in downtown Singapore because of unpaid rent.

I'm told Twitter employees were just walked out of its Singapore office — its Asia-Pacific headquarters — over nonpayment of rent. Landlords walked employees out of the building

— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) January 11, 2023

However, its landlord, CapitaLand confirmed to Campaign Asia-Pacific that Twitter remained a tenant, at least for now.

“Twitter has been a tenant of CapitaGreen since 2015, and it remains a tenant of CapitaGreen,” a CapitaLand spokesperson said. 

Uncertainty over Twitter's tenancy and further layoffs stem from new owner Elon Musk's recent cost-cutting activities which have included nonpayment of rent at its global headquarters. 

Bloomberg also reported there were layoffs in the Singapore and Dublin office in the trust and safety team last week. Nur Azhar Bin Ayob, a new hire as head of site integrity for APAC was among those affected. 

More than half of its 7,500 global workforce have also been laid off since the takeover.

Since Elon Musk acquired the company, several large brands including Audi, General Mills and General Motors have paused paid advertising on the platform amid concerns that Musk could scale back content moderation of the platform, which could create a less brand safe environment.