Twitter users worked themselves up over fears that the website could go down after hundreds of engineers at the company resigned in response to an ultimatum from Elon Musk.
Users began tweeting their concerns about the social network’s future on Thursday after hundreds of employees resigned from the company over Musk’s demand that they commit to “hardcore” work or leave. Several of these employees oversaw critical systems at the company, leading users to believe that the website could face a shutdown.
“Ok, it’s been real. Thanks for all those involved,” tweeted Australian soccer player Mason Cox. “Currently feeling as good about Twitter as the money I put into crypto a year ago.”
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Others noted the incongruity of tweeting about Twitter’s demise. “The irony of following Twitter’s chaos on Twitter,” tweeted tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee.
Several users began posting on Thursday as though the platform would collapse that night, only for the website to still be up Friday morning. Others quickly moved to slam Musk for his decision to require employees to sign a memo agreeing to work long hours or get three months of severance.
Hundreds of employees agreed to resign by Thursday despite efforts by Musk to convince several staffers to stick with the company. Several employees posted farewell messages to the company’s Slack channel, according to CNBC. Several “critical” teams at the company have all resigned, according to the Verge, including the company’s traffic and front-end teams.
Musk held meetings with several workers in an attempt to convince them to stick with the company, according to the New York Times. He later responded to the speculation about Twitter’s future by claiming that the platform had reached “another all-time high” in usage. He also posted several memes mocking users for posting about the platform’s demise.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
Musk’s ultimatum came less than a week after the billionaire reversed the company’s remote-work policy and demanded that staff work in the office or face being laid off. Musk has already laid off approximately half of the company’s staff and continues to claim that the company is still bloated. Musk is expected to pay $1 billion in interest a year to pay off the loans he received to acquire the company.
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Musk also delayed one of the company’s most anticipated updates to its premium service. Musk said that he would allow users to get verified for $7.99 a month via Twitter Blue and had intended to release the product after the midterm elections. The billionaire later announced that he was “punting” the launch of Blue to Nov. 29 to ensure the product was top quality. It is unclear if the Thursday resignations will delay the product’s release further.
