[imagesource: Twitter / @elonmusk]
Clearly, unlike a flight attendant who alleges that Elon Musk exposed himself to her and offered to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage, Twitter employees didn’t sign non-disclosure agreements as part of their contracts.
In fact, we’re actually watching on in real-time as Musk and now former Twitter employees publicly battle and get sacked, which probably isn’t swaying would-be advertisers to spend their money on the platform.
CNN euphemistically called the situation “an unusually visible sign of corporate chaos” and focused on Musk’s dispute with software engineer Eric Frohnhoefer:
[It] ended with the billionaire tweeting “he’s fired,” and Frohnhoefer confirming he’d lost access to Twitter’s internal systems. The public termination came after Frohnhoefer tweeted evidence suggesting that Musk was “wrong” about his claims that Twitter was running, in the billionaire’s words, “super slow” in various countries.
How it started:
I have spent ~6yrs working on Twitter for Android and can say this is wrong. https://t.co/sh30ZxpD0N
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ 🏡 (@EricFrohnhoefer) November 13, 2022
And how it ended:
Before the first round of layoffs, employees were reminding each other to keep their heads down and out of the way of Musk.
If they got laid off, they’d get severance. But if they pushed back against Elon? They’d get fired. No severance.
Very normal work environment. pic.twitter.com/o9dQAHJCPn
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) November 14, 2022
Frohnhoefer said that he found out he was fired when a friend sent him Musk’s tweet. He went on to call working for Musk a “total sh*t show”.
The software engineer is just one of many to be given the boot without any notice, reports The New York Times:
Early on Tuesday, Mr. Musk’s team ordered nearly two dozen Twitter employees who had pushed back publicly and privately against him to be fired, three people with knowledge of the matter said…
The firings followed cuts to Twitter’s contract work force over the weekend. Many of the contractors work on content moderation and data science and were let go without notice, five people familiar with the matter said.
On Twitter, the world’s richest person didn’t hold back:
I would like to apologize for firing these geniuses. Their immense talent will no doubt be of great use elsewhere.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022
The injustice of it all 😭😭
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022
A tragic case of adult onset Tourette’s
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022
Perhaps this might cost him a little if the firings were a breach of contract, for example, but can you really put a price on publicly humiliating a former employee?
Speaking last week while admitting that Twitter faced the possibility of bankruptcy, Musk said hardcore changes were needed. It’s believed he plans to reorganise the company to eliminate middle managers.
He also sent a memo to staff on Monday saying that “exceptional amounts of stock would be awarded for exceptional performance” without going into further detail.
Even criticising Musk – who positions himself as a champion of free speech – privately doesn’t end well. according to The Verge:
…many employees are reportingly being fired just for criticizing Musk in the company’s private Slack…
Gergely Orosz tweeted that around 10 people have been fired for speaking up internally in a Slack watercooler channel — and Platformer’s Casey Newton has sources that say the number might be closer to 20…
Anonymous employees told Bloomberg that at least a dozen employees have been let go after criticizing Musk on various platforms.
You won’t get a public comment from Twitter on the matter because the company no longer has a communications department after they were let go.
This thread lays things out in greater detail:
NEW: Employees who have criticized Elon Musk in Twitter’s Slack channels were fired overnight over email.
“We regret to inform you that your employment is terminated immediately,” they’re being told over email. “Your recent behavior has violated company policy.”
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) November 15, 2022
In the face of pushback, Musk joked that he had rehired Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson, pranksters who tricked multiple media outlets into interviewing them after claiming they had been sacked by Twitter’s new owner.
Welcoming back Ligma & Johnson! pic.twitter.com/LEhXV95Njj
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022
‘Johnson’ is obviously a slang word for ‘penis’ and ‘ligma’ – well, here you go.
