Saluting out: How Musk's 'extremely hardcore' email caused chaos at Twitter

Slack, Twitter's internal communication platform, was on November 17 flooded with "salute" emojis sent by the employees who have resigned or are leaving the company

"Hundreds upon hundreds" employees of Twitter have reportedly resigned in the last few hours. This comes ahead of the deadline given to them by Elon Musk to either agree to participate in his "extremely hardcore" way of work or resign and accept severance pay. Musk had set 5 PM (UST) to meet the demand.

According to some estimates, the number of resignations up to early Friday may even top 1,000.

"Am hearing the number of Twitter resignations today is likely over 1,000 though unclear as not all are posting their decision," Alex Heath, editor of The Verge, wrote on Twitter. Some teams, including the engineering team responsible for managing its core system libraries, have resigned. 

Slack, Twitter's internal communication platform, was flooded with "salute" emojis sent by the employees who have resigned and are leaving the company. It must be noted that since the layoffs announced by Musk earlier this month, Twitter currently has only less than 3,000 employees remaining. If 1,000 have technically resigned, one-third of the team has already left.

"After the deadline hit, hundreds of employees quickly started posting farewell messages and saluting emojis in Twitter's Slack, announcing that they had said no to Musk's ultimatum," The Verge reported.

The resigning employees do not want to be a part of Twitter 2.0. After his takeover, in his memo to employees, Musk wrote that "going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore".

"I have worked here at Twitter for over 11 years. Back in July, I was the 27th most tenured employee at the company. Now I'm the 15th," posted one employee in Twitter's Slack, according to IANS. 

"I'm not pressing the (yes) button. My watch ends with Twitter 1.0. I do not wish to be part of Twitter 2.0," another posted on Slack.

"Guess I just said goodbye to the ghost of my dream job forever? Tweeps, you are world-class," posted another employee who resigned.

The company has closed all its US office buildings and suspended badge access.

According to Bloomberg, The memo which was circluated in the company by Musk read: 

"Hi,

Effective immediately, we are temporarily closing our office buildings and all badge access will be suspended. Offices will reopen on Monday, November 21st.

Thank you for your flexibility. Please continue to comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere.

We look forward to working with you on Twitter’s exciting future.

Twitter." 

Zoe Schiffer, managing editor at Platformer, tweeted that the designers who were leading Elon Musk's Blue veified project have also resigned. 

 

Some employees who have resigned have also posted the "salute" emoji on Twitter.

Earlier, a group of US Senators asked the country's antitrust regulator to scrutinise Twitter. They said that Musk has "undermined the integrity and safety of the platform".

"In recent weeks, Twitter's new Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, has taken alarming steps that have undermined the integrity and safety of the platform and announced new features despite clear warnings those changes would be abused for fraud, scams, and dangerous impersonation," the letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) signed by seven Democratic senators including Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren read.

How did it unfold?

October 27

Musk takes over as the head of Twitter. On the same day, he fires key executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and Twitter's head of legal policy, Vijaya Gadde.

The next day, Twitter was delisted and became a private entity. Musk tweeted that there will be a "content moderation council".

October 31

Musk announces that he is the company's CEO. The board of directors at Twitter was dissolved, and Musk became the "sole director".

On the same day, the Washington Post reports that Musk plans to lay off 25 per cent of Twitter staff.

November 1

Musk floats the idea of an $8 per month Twitter Blue subscription. It would include the verification "Blue tick" as well. The company's chief customer officer Sarah Personette resigned.

November 2

Bloomberg reports that Musk was planning to cut around 3,700 jobs. This was about half of the total employees on Twitter. Further, he was planning to call the employees back to the office.

For days, speculations around the subscription pack and layoffs kept circulating on Twitter.

November 4

Massive layoffs reported from Twitter, including in India. Musk said that he had "no choice". Three months of severance was reportedly offered to those employees.

November 5

Twitter rolls out $8 Twitter Blue for iOS users.

November 10

Musk reportedly tells the Twitter employees that "bankruptcy was a possibility".

November 11

Twitter Blue for iOS vanishes. "Twitter Blue will be available in your country in the future. Please check back later," the pop-up reads.

November 12

Nearly 4,400 contract employees terminated from Twitter. They find it out because the employees lost access to the company's email and Slack.

November 15

Musk reportedly fires the employees who criticised him on Slack. It was, however, unclear how many people were affected.

November 16

Musk emailes his vision of Twitter 2.0, which would require an "extremely hardcore" culture. The employees must agree or leave with three months of severance pay.

November 17

"Hundreds upon hundreds" reportedly resign from Twitter ", saluting" each other on Slack.

(With agency inputs)