WASHINGTON: Twitter has asked a California federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by more than 100 former employees over the "mass layoffs" the new chief executive officer Elon Musk brought into force after he took over the social media giant.

The company's lawyers argued that the employees bringing the potential class-action suit don't have enough in common for the case to be classified as a class action.

The attorneys also argued in the December 23 court filing that the complaints made are "vague, imprecise" allegations."

Plaintiffs do not even attempt to define a class, making only passing reference to 'thousands of other Twitter employees,' or 'other similarly situated Twitter employees,'" an attorney for Twitter told the court.

The group bringing the suit includes employees who have already been laid off and others who won't be terminated until January or February. Twitter's lawyers want the case thrown out or moved to a Delaware court, which is handling disputes relating to Musk's US$44bil takeover of the social media platform.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer representing employees, said she remains "confident in our claims". She said, "We call on Elon Musk to show some holiday spirit and honor the law and promises made to Twitter employees. If not, we are ready to take him on in 2023."

 - dpa