X (formerly Twitter) is re-upping its commitment to being a secure platform by going on a hiring spree. Two years after Elon Musk took over the company and slashed staffing in the “trust and safety center” by almost 50%, the social media powerhouse recently posted two dozen cybersecurity and trust and safety jobs.
Musk purchased X in 2022 to “protect free speech.” However, the platform has become a veritable free-for-all, where anyone can say anything without consequences, even when they spread dangerous misinformation. The news that X plans to expand the security team with a hiring surge appears to be a step back toward closer monitoring of user content, despite previous claims that doing so is kin to censorship.
The sudden surge in cybersecurity recruitment indicates that X intends to address the platform security issues and vulnerabilities that plague the site and affect user experience.
Job Postings Indicate Moderation Team Growth
Although this move by X expands the security team with a hiring surge, even with the addition of the new jobs and a safety team expansion, the trust and safety center will not have anywhere near the staffing it did in 2022. At the time of the takeover, the full-time content moderation team was 107 strong; today, it has 51 people. The contracted moderation team also saw layoffs in 2024, with more than 300 people losing their positions.
Cybersecurity and safety engineers also greatly reduced their numbers, going from 279 to 55 by May 2023. Considering those losses, the two dozen new openings represent only a small percentage of the former workforce and a tiny step toward restoring the moderation and security teams.
Why the Sudden Hiring Frenzy?
Overall, these massive staffing reductions have undeniably affected X and its financial stability. While the platform has 32 million fewer users since Musk took ownership, advertisers are at a greater loss. In just under two years, nearly all advertisers have left X largely due to safety and security issues.
Despite earning nearly $1.5 billion in 2023, X saw a massive revenue decline, down from the $4.4 billion earnings in 2022. The numbers are even lower for 2024, with the company earning only $517 million in the first half of 2024. The company is still far from profitable, and the issues with unregulated content and security only worsen things.
In fact, in August 2024, Brazil banned X from the country due to problematic content. Musk refused to prohibit content that the Brazilian government disapproved of, saying that doing so amounted to political censorship. The result was the loss of millions of users and substantial revenue.
Most of the new jobs available as X expands its security team with a hiring surge will be in Austin, Texas, the future headquarters of X once the company completes its move from San Francisco. Interested candidates can find more information about cybersecurity professionals' jobs, including threat intelligence specialists and government affairs managers, and apply on the X Careers page.
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