Elon Musk publicly clashed with a growing number of Twitter employees over the state of the platform and fired at least one of them in a tweet, in an unusually visible sign of corporate chaos following his influential $44 billion takeover of the company.
Musk on Monday had a spat with software engineer Eric Frohnhoefer on Twitter, which ended with the billionaire writing “fired” and Frohnhoefer confirming that he had lost access to Twitter’s internal systems. The public termination came after Frohnhoefer posted on Twitter suggesting that Musk was “wrong” about his claims that Twitter was running, in the billionaire’s words, “too slowly” in various countries.
Frohnhoefer told CNN Monday night that he learned of the firing when a friend sent him Musk’s tweet and said “no one even came to me from Twitter.” Fraunhofer added that he was “willing to try it” under Musk and described himself as “in the waiting camp” but that “everything that has been reported is true.” He described working for Musk as a “total show” and the current situation as pure “chaos.”
At least one other employee who tried to offer context on the matter had also been fired as of Tuesday morning, according to a tweet from that employee. And a handful of other Twitter employees told the platform on Tuesday they were fired in an email that said their “conduct violated company policy,” with some speculating the move may have been a reaction to comments they made on its internal channels. Slack. Sources told CNN that employees in recent days have been very outspoken in their criticism of Musk on the company’s Slack. (CNN attempted to contact those fired for confirmation.)
Responding to a tweet about news of the layoffs on Tuesday, Musk said: “I would like to apologize for firing these geniuses. Their immense talent will no doubt be very useful elsewhere.”
The layoffs come after Musk cut half of Twitter’s staff and reportedly cut many of its contractors in what many critics have described as a dead end and could put the platform at risk. Musk’s payback for those who disagree with him also comes as he has consolidated his control over the company by ousting Twitter’s top executives and eliminating its board of directors.
In their absence, Musk now runs Twitter with the help of friends Jason Calacanis and David Sacks. his personal lawyer Alex Spiro. and, reportedly, engineers on loan from some of his other companies, including Tesla ( TSLA ) . In addition to the public pushback from employees, some Twitter staff appear to have tried to appeal to Musk and his inner circle privately as they weigh several disruptive changes to the platform.
An internal document obtained by CNN shows that employees had raised concerns with Musk and others about some of the consequences if Twitter launched its new $8-a-month verification service. The document, which was dated Nov. 1 and proved prescient in its predictions, provides a list of recommendations on how to avoid the most extreme possible consequences of launching a subscription where anyone could pay $8 to receive a verified token of choice.
“Legacy verification provides a critical message to enforce impersonation rules, the loss of which is likely to lead to an increase in impersonation of high-profile Twitter accounts,” the paper says, adding that such issues could lead to a loss of trust between high profile users. He also expressed concerns that the service could lead to a “pay to play” system in which key voices could be those who cannot or will not pay for the subscription, such as “individuals in sanctioned countries (including dissidents and activists)”. lacks priority.
Esther Crawford, a Twitter product manager who is said to be leading the update to the Twitter Blue subscription service, was briefed on the document before the paid verification option was launched last week, as were Musk and his lawyer Alex Spiro, said a source to CNN. Digital news outlet Platformer was the first to report details of the document.
Hours after the launch of its paid verification system last week, Twitter welcomed a wave of celebrities and corporate impersonators onto its platform who were quick to game the system, potentially adding to growing uncertainty among advertisers, who make up nearly all of Twitter business. The paid subscription service was suspended on Friday with little warning. It was not immediately clear when the company might reinstate the offer.
Correction: An earlier version of this story referred to criticism of Musk by a Twitter user who described himself as an employee at the platform but does not actually work for the company.
