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The #RIPTwitter is trending on the platform amidst mass lay-offs and user sign-offs. Elon Musk acquired the social media platform on October 27, 2022, and since then the microblogging platform has been in the news consistently for the wrong reasons.
The reason for the company's downhill tumble can be attributed to its chaotic schemes and mismanaged policies. These include lay-offs that reduced the workforce to almost half, the blue check subscription program, and subsequent parody accounts that cropped up.
Elon Musk recently proposed an 'extremely hardcore' reset for the company. In an email sent to its employees that was obtained by The Verge, the Tesla founder 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."
On November 16, 2022, Elon Musk issued an ultimatum to staff: commit to working 'hardcore' or take severance pay and leave.
In the wake of this news, about 75% of its remaining employees allegedly planned to refuse the proposal, according to a tech reporter, Kylie Robinson, @kyliebytes.
Additionally, employee badges and access were disabled till Monday, which has led to many questioning if this is the end of the microblogging platform. Many of the power users are signing off from the platform as a result, including Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali, journalist Aaron Rupar, and influencer Mitchell Nagy.
Most Twitteratis are using the hashtag #RIPTwitter or #TwitterDown to discuss this chaos and express their concerns.
"Goodbye Twitter, been a good run": Netizens react to company drama
With many left wondering about the future of the microblogging platform, users have taken to making some hilarious and witty tweets. Here are some of the best ones:
Additionally, many have shown appreciation for the old company's management over the new one under Musk. Here are some of the comments seen on the platform:
After the acquisition, the new CEO immediately announced a slew of new features to reduce bot accounts, make algorithms open-sourced, and promote free speech.
In an attempt to combat the spam bots, Musk announced the launch of a $7.99 per month subscription service for users to get the blue tick. The decision was questioned by a number of people as the blue tick was previously used by verified government accounts, notable figures, and other vetted users. After a number of issues arose, the scheme was halted by the micro-blogging site.
In addition to all this, the company also laid off nearly half of its workforce, in an effort to combat the company supposedly losing $4 million on a daily basis. The layoffs were highly mismanaged, as many employees claimed that they were not informed of their job termination.
The company reportedly even asked many ex-employees to return. According to the Deccan Herald, Musk laid off about 3,800 full-time employees and 5,000 contractual workers and is "getting rid" of anyone who criticizes him.
Allegedly, many employees told Bloomberg that at least 20 employees were let go after criticizing Musk on various internet platforms. Here are some of the tweets by former employees:
The company no longer has a communications department to contact for comment.
