The hashtag ‘#GoodByeTwitter’ is currently trending on the microblogging platform amid reports that hundreds of employees have resigned.
The trend started due to growing concerns among the platform’s users about its future.
According to The Verge, the mass resignations came after Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, demanded that staffers agree to an “extremely hardcore” work culture, meaning “working long hours at high intensity” — or take three months severance pay.
Musk had set a 5 pm Eastern Time deadline on Thursday for Twitter workers to decide whether they were staying or going.
The news website said that after the deadline hit, hundreds of employees quickly started posting farewell messages and salute emojis in Twitter’s slack, announcing that they had said no to Musk’s ultimatum.
The remaining and departing Twitter employees told The Verge that given the scale of the resignations this week, they expect the platform to start breaking soon.
One said that they’ve watched “legendary engineers” and others look up to leave one by one.
“It feels like all the people who made this place incredible are leaving,” the Twitter staffer told The Verge.
“It will be extremely hard for Twitter to recover from here, no matter how hardcore the people who remain try to be.”
Employees who requested anonymity to speak also said multiple “critical” teams inside Twitter have now either completely or near-completely resigned.
Reacting to the resignations in a tweet on Friday morning, Musk said he was not worried because the more important employees are staying.
“The best people are staying, so I’m not super worried,” he tweeted.
The best people are staying, so I’m not super worried
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
The billionaire added: “And… we just hit another all time high in Twitter usage lol”.
And … we just hit another all-time high in Twitter usage lol
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
At the same time, Twitter announced the closure of its offices till Monday.
It also temporarily suspended all badge access for its employees.
“Please continue to comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential information on social media, with the press or elsewhere,” the company told its employees.
Email to Twitter staff saying offices are closed till Monday.
"I didn’t want to work for someone who threatened us over email multiple times" says one employee who's just resigned pic.twitter.com/Xd9s36f0ru
— James Clayton (@JamesClayton5) November 18, 2022
Source: Top Stories