Twitter employees film the moment they were officially fired

Charlie Herbert

‘We’re all about to get fired from Twitter’

Twitter employees filmed themselves together in the Boston office to count down to the moment they were fired.

This week, Elon Musk gave staff an ultimatum to either “go hardcore” or go home, giving them until Thursday (November 17) to decide on their future with the company.

Those who did not sign up by this deadline would be given three months’ severance pay, Musk said.

So a group of Twitter employees who clearly weren’t keen on signing up to Musk’s ultimatum decided to film the moment their years of employment at the company officially came to an end.

“We’re all about to get fired from Twitter, I’ve been here for nine years and nine months now,” Matt Miller says as he stands with his coworkers.

The now-ex staff cheered together as they counted down to zero, before they went to check if their badges had already been deactivated.

It’s been a ride pic.twitter.com/0VDf5hn2UA

— Matt Miller (@brainiaq2000) November 17, 2022

On Thursday, the company’s employees were told that office buildings will be temporarily closed, effective immediately.

Workers were told that the offices would reopen on Monday 21 November, BBC reports.

Twitter did not give a reason for the move.

The message read: “Effective immediately, we are temporarily closing our office buildings and al badge access will be suspended. Office 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.”

The announcement comes amid reports that large numbers of staff were quitting after new owner Musk called on them to sign up for “long hours at high intensity” or leave.

But it was later reported that Musk had softened his stance after a backlash from staff.

Before Musk took control of Twitter the company had around 7,500 staff. The firm was also reported to have employed thousands of contract workers, the majority of which are understood to have been laid off.

One anonymous employee told the BBC that “when the dust clears today, there’s probably going to be less than 2,000 people left.”

This comes days after Musk claimed to be sleeping at the Twitter HQ and working ‘day and night’ to handle and manage his takeover.

He’s still tweeting though, and is trying to give off the sense of someone who isn’t too concerned by how things are going.