#RipTwitter Trends and Twitter Users Say Farewell After Elon Musk Spurs Mass Resignations at HQ

Things are not so happy in the Twitterverse as the week comes to a close. Elon Musk took the reins

Nov 18, 2022
RIPTwitter

Things are not so happy in the Twitterverse as the week comes to a close.

Elon Musk took the reins of the company on October 27, after putting down a jaw-dropping $44 billion.

Used to success and strong-arming the world into doing exactly what he wants, Musk set about causing chaos and upending the entire company within hours.

Now, however, the billionaire monkey wrench may have gone too far. And Twitter users are taking the chance to say goodbye now – while they still can.

See: KATHY GRIFFIN SUSPENDED FROM TWITTER FOR IMPERSONATING ELON MUSK

#RipTwitter: Elon Musk Tells Employees to Go Hardcore or Go Home – So They Go Home

This week, new owner Musk reached out to all of his employees in a memo that told them that they would need to commit to hustle to bring his vision for the company to life.

In the memo, Musk wrote, “Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”

He outlined how Twitter will be “much more engineering-driven” and then gives staff an ultimatum. “If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below,” directing staff to link.

But, he said, that any employee who had not done so by 5 p.m. ET on Thursday will receive three months severance.

So basically, Musk told them to “get in line and go hardcore, or go home.”

And of course Twitter’s staff, being mostly made up of Millennials and Gen Z, was ready to call his bluff – they went home. By the hundreds. Now, some outlets have speculated that the number of resignees could be over a thousand.

Recall that Musk cut Twitter’s workforce in half earlier this month, canning around 3,500 jobs. That left him with just about 3,500 employees – and many of those have now resigned.

CNN Business reports, “A former Twitter executive who recently exited the company described Thursday’s employee exits as a ‘mass exodus.’

On Thursday evening following the exits, employees remaining at the company received an email alerting them that the company’s offices will be temporarily closed and badge access will be restricted through Monday, according to a copy of the email obtained by CNN from a current Twitter employee. Musk’s team similarly shuttered offices during the mass layoffs earlier this month out of a concern for safety and an apparent fear that exiting employees could attempt to sabotage the company on their way out.

Two Twitter employees told CNN ahead of the deadline on Thursday that they planned to reject the ultimatum, citing a toxic work environment they say the billionaire has introduced. Another Twitter employee told CNN Wednesday they were still weighing the decision, saying the email from Musk ‘felt like a punch in the gut because no matter how you felt about wanting to stay or wanting to go, you were forced to make a decision and feel like you’re up against the time clock to make the best decision for you and your family.’

The employee added: ‘Those decisions are more than just 24 hours.’”

This prompted users across the platform to bid farewell to their followers and friends in case the entire site goes down. Some speculated that there aren’t enough engineers and problem solvers to keep such a complicated platform going, while others pointed out that they’ll bring in contracted workers.

One of the greatest blows to Twitter came in the form of a reported mass resignation from the Payroll portion of Twitter. A social media reporter from Insider said that not only did the entire Payroll staff resign, but so did the entire US tax team along with the financial reporting team.

Temp workers will have to come in just to cut paychecks, a stressful prospect for all employees awaiting compensation whether they resigned or not.

#RIPTwitter and #GoodbyeTwitter trended on Thursday night, and on Friday it would seem that many people were still not convinced that the social media platform would survive the massive shake-up.

Will Twitter Actually Go Dark After Elon Musk’s Bluff is Called? Is it Really ‘RIPTwitter’ or ‘Pause’?

Midday Friday, the first signs that Musk is worried about the chaos emerged.

After playfully dubbing Friday, “Freedom Friday,” Musk extended an olive branch to advertisers who left Twitter out of concern for his business acumen.

He tweeted, “New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.

Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter.

You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.”

He followed up with a tweet adding, “Kathie Griffin[sic], Jorden Peterson & Babylon Bee have been reinstated.

Trump decision has not yet been made.”

It’s clearly a sign that Musk is hoping to get advertisers back on his platform and stop some of the financial hemorrhaging.

Which is not what you do when you expect your company to go under.

It’s unlikely that Twitter will go dark for good any time soon. Remember, Musk and his partners from Saudi Arabi have invested a combined $44 billion in the platform.

That’s not an investment they’ll sink quickly, especially not with Musk’s ego and reputation on the line.

So while there may be some short-term chaos and the platform is likely to go down at varying intervals, it probably isn’t gone for good – yet. They will bring in contractors and start recruiting out of tech school if need be; Twitter’s not done for yet.

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