Nearly two years after extensive layoffs dismantled X’s trust, safety, and security teams, Elon Musk’s social media platform is shifting gears. The company, formerly known as Twitter, is actively recruiting new employees to bolster its content moderation and cybersecurity efforts, according to recent job postings on X’s official careers page.
In the past month alone, X has advertised over two dozen new positions, evenly distributed between its safety and cybersecurity teams. The open roles span a variety of responsibilities, from high-level positions like Director of Strategic Response to more specialized roles like Security Engineers and Threat Intelligence Specialists.
These new job postings mark a significant, though modest, step towards rebuilding the teams that were drastically reduced following Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the company in late 2022. At that time, the workforce at X saw a dramatic reduction, with approximately 6,000 employees let go in just six months. By April 2023, the company’s global workforce had dwindled to about 1,500 employees.
The trust and safety teams were among the hardest hit. In January 2024, X disclosed to Australia’s online safety commissioner that it had slashed 80% of its trust and safety staff since Musk’s takeover. Prior to the acquisition, X’s global trust and safety teams boasted 279 engineers, but this number had been reduced to just 55 by May 2023. Overall, the company reported a reduction in its 4,062-strong trust and safety team to 2,849 employees. Similarly, the full-time content moderation team shrank from 107 to 51 members, while contracted moderators were cut from 2,613 to 2,305.
The recent wave of job listings suggests that X is now aiming to strengthen its safety efforts. This aligns with the company’s January announcement of a new Trust and Safety Center in Austin, Texas, which is set to include 100 full-time content moderators. Notably, nine of the recently posted jobs mention Austin as a possible location, although other cities like New York, Palo Alto, as well as international offices in Manila and Delhi, are also listed.
When reached out to X’s press team with questions about the new hires and the current size of its safety and cybersecurity teams, the company responded with an automated message: “Busy now, please check back later.”
The departures from X’s trust, safety, and cybersecurity teams haven’t been limited to rank-and-file staff. Senior leadership has also seen significant turnover. Both Lea Kissner, the company’s former Chief Information Security Officer, and Ella Irwin, who led the trust and safety efforts, have left since Musk took over.
These reductions in staff appear to have compromised X’s ability to secure its platform and effectively manage complex content moderation issues on a global scale. Recently, X faced severe backlash when the Supreme Court of Brazil temporarily banned the platform nationwide after Musk refused to remove accounts spreading misinformation. Musk himself has faced criticism for allegedly amplifying hateful content and misinformation. For instance, this week, he promoted a podcast episode featuring a guest accused of Holocaust denialism and shared AI-generated images that appeared to mock U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.
On the cybersecurity front, challenges persist. During a recent X Spaces event with former President Donald Trump, the platform experienced a crash, which Musk attributed—without evidence—to a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.
As X attempts to rebuild and rebrand, the company’s future remains uncertain. The new hires could signal a commitment to improving security and safety, but whether these efforts will be enough to restore user trust and stabilize the platform is yet to be seen. For now, X is at a crossroads, with its next steps likely to define the company’s trajectory in the coming years.
