''Access To My Computer Was Cut'': Laid-Off Twitter Employee Accuses The Company Of Ghosting Him

The past few months have been gloomy for the technology sector as several big tech firms have carried out massive layoffs. Twitter is also learned to have sacked around 200 employees, or 10 percent of its workforce, according to The New York Times. The fresh layoffs include product managers, big data experts, and engineers working on machine learning and platform reliability.

Meanwhile, several startup founders who joined Twitter via acquisitions over the past few years have been tweeting that they'd also been cut. Impacted by the layoff, Icelandic entrepreneur Haraldur Thorleifsson, known most often as Halli, shared his ordeal on Twitter and accused the company of ghosting him. He complained that he didn't get any letter or confirmation from the company regarding his job termination. 

The entrepreneur said he first discovered the news of his layoff when he was no longer able to log into his workstation with his Twitter credentials. Notably, Mr. Thorleifsson sold his company, Ueno, to Twitter in 2021. Since the sale of Ueno, he has worked as an employee at Twitter, where he is an active user and commentator. 

In a Twitter thread, he tagged Elon Musk and wrote, ''Dear @elonmusk 9 days ago the access to my work computer was cut, along with about 200 other Twitter employees. However, your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am an employee or not. You've not answered my emails. Maybe if enough people retweet you'll answer me here?''

Dear @elonmusk 👋

9 days ago the access to my work computer was cut, along with about 200 other Twitter employees.

However your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am an employee or not. You've not answered my emails.

Maybe if enough people retweet you'll answer me here?

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 6, 2023

The employee further tagged the ex-Twitter boss Jack Dorsey and sought his help. ''Hi @jack I would really appreciate your help on this one. My company was acquired on your watch and I joined because I believed in what you were building.'' 

He further added, ''And then there's @sequoia and@a16z. Two investors in Twitter claim they are founder friendly. Let's see if they actually live by that motto now that Twitter is cutting acquired founders with no communication.''

And then there's @sequoia and @a16z . Two investors in Twitter that claim they are founder friendly.

Let's see if they actually live by that motto now that Twitter is cutting acquired founders with no communication.

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 6, 2023

When asked by Elon Musk what work he does at the company, Mr. Thorleifsson replied, ''I would need to break confidentiality to answer this question here. If you have your lawyers share in writing that I can do that then I'd be happy to discuss that openly!''

Upon getting Mr. Musk's approval, he described the work that he has been doing at Twitter. 

To further emphasise his point, he wrote, ''To be clear. You have every right to lay me off. That's totally fair and fine. But usually, people are told when that happens. Maybe with a letter or something. Which didn't happen for 9 days despite multiple emails to you and others.''

But as I shared I finally got confirmation that I am not an employee anymore.

Again, that's totally within your rights. No complaints.

But can you make sure I get paid what I'm owed?

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

Mr. Musk, who acquired the social media platform in October 2022, has steadily cut back the workforce from about 7,500 employees as he has sought to reduce costs.