Nearly 1,200 employees resigned after Elon Musk's ultimatum.
Some Twitter employees filmed a countdown on getting fired from the Boston office after they refused to sign onto Elon Musk's "hardcore" Twitter. Last week, Mr Musk told Twitter staff that they would either commit to an "extremely hardcore" version of the company or reject it and resign, with a deadline of 5pm on Thursday. Nearly 1,200 employees resigned after the ultimatum, forcing Twitter to close their offices till Monday.
Now, in a viral video, former Twitter employee Matt Miller and his colleagues counted down till the moment they got fired. The group did a new year's-style countdown till they lost access to the company's portals. "It's been a ride," Mr Miller wrote in the caption of the Twitter post.
Watch the video below:
"30 seconds left - 35 seconds," the employees said in the clip, posted on Thursday just after 5pm. The video showed Mr Miller and four other individuals huddling together in an empty office, where a "Love Where You Work" sign was seen glowing in the background.
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"Everybody here, we're all about to get fired from Twitter. I've been ... nine years and nine months now," Mr Miller said. He then even asked other former employees how long they worked at the company. While one man said that they worked at Twitter for over nine years, another stated four years and two months. "Nine years and a month," said another former worker.
"Happy New Year," Mr Miller said in the clip. "Let's try the badges," said another employee, referring to the security badges that allow them access to the building.
Meanwhile, following the mass exodus, hashtags including RIP Twitter, Damn Twitter and Twitter HQ started trending on the platform as users flocked to send "last tweets" and farewell notes. However, even amidst the latest twist in the long saga of Twitter under Mr Musk's control, the "Chief Twit" didn't seem to be worried. "The best people are staying, so I'm not super worried," Mr Musk tweeted on Friday.
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Notably, ever since the tech billionaire took over Twitter last month, he fired about 50% of the staff, scraped a work-from-home policy and imposed long hours. His attempts to revamp user verification with a controversial subscription service have also led to a slew of fake accounts and prompted major advertisers to step away from the platform. But even amidst all this, Mr Musk continues to reiterate that Twitter has been hitting an all-time high in usage.