Will Twitter shut down? More Elon Musk ultimatums, employee exodus, #RIPTwitter trends

Twitter headquarters currently seems to resemble the scene from the Titanic movie as the ship is sinking, people are figuring out the news, and sheer panic spreading across the board. Wonder who's playing the violin selflessly to keep everyone calm? Not Elon Musk, the captain of the Twitter ship, for sure!

If Twitter shuts down it was nice knowing all of you 🫡#TwitterDown pic.twitter.com/a74lzx4xCH

— Anti (@AntiShock123) November 18, 2022

If you woke up to refresh your Twitter feed… and it didn't work, well, then good that you found this article. #GoodByeTwitter, #RIPTwitter, #TwitterDown and more are trending on Twitter at a rate faster than we can type. 

I like how we've given up on Twitter before it's coughed out a final breath. But seriously, what on earth is going on?? #TwitterDown pic.twitter.com/uR59NuIvts

— Jaya Avendel (@AvendelJaya) November 18, 2022

Is this the beginning of the end?https://t.co/Msquc0sBoy pic.twitter.com/f35MF4EqYk

— Muskrat McRatfucker needs to resign as CEO  (@christoq) November 18, 2022

Twitteratis are literally saying their goodbyes in what they think will be their final tweets, and honestly, it's kind of sad (cue: sad background music).  

Ugh, end of an era. #RIPTwitter pic.twitter.com/aL3AQuoexO

— Ju✨ (@_psiloveju) November 18, 2022

So, what's happening? Elon Musk! Duh!

Remember the ultimatum Musk sent to Twitter employees about committing to work "long hours" at "high intensity" or leaving the company? He had also sent a link with the email asking employees to click on 'yes' or 'no' (meaning they resign) by a deadline.

Well, turns out a lot of employees (or however many are still left) either clicked 'no' or just didn't respond and are quitting in droves. 

• Reuters reported that hundreds of employees are estimated to be leaving Twitter.
• A survey conducted by the workplace app Blind which verifies employees and allows them to share information anonymously, 40% of 180 Twitter employees said they are quitting. 

• Apparently, only 7% chose to say yes. 
• Reportedly, Musk is also meeting with several employees to convince them to stay, especially the core engineering team. 
• And Musk has once again closed down Twitter office access till Monday, November 21, over concerns of sabotage by exiting employees. 

• The Verge also reported that hundreds of employees are posting goodbye messages on Twitter's Slack. Some even took to LinkedIn to share the news. 

• Elon Musk says he's not worried about people leaving Twitter as the best are staying. 

The best people are staying, so I’m not super worried

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022

• But people at Twitter ARE NOT HAPPY! This is a video of Twitter's San Francisco headquarters blasting Elon Musk, calling him an "Apartheid profiteer" and "lawless oligarch" among other things. 

Twitter's San Francisco headquarters has gone hardcore tonight. #TwitterTakeover pic.twitter.com/DoG5pDD4AD

— Muskrat McRatfucker needs to resign as CEO  (@christoq) November 18, 2022

More ultimatums and threats: No one knows who's actually making Twitter function anymore, but Elon Musk is not yet done with his workplace culture upheaval and ultimatums to employees. 

• In the latest, Elon Musk wrote to managers about allowing Work From Home to employees. 
• He sent emails to managers saying that WFH approvals will be done at the risk of the job of that manager. 

• In other words, Elon Musk is not saying 'no' to WFH, but he's making managers do the dirty work and take responsibility. But at the same time, he's also making it impossible for managers to approve WFH by putting their jobs at risk too. 
• Also, Musk has already forgotten that not so long ago he had taken the responsibility of denying remote work requests. So, essentially, he wants managers to do his bad bidding for him. 

And now, due to the mess, a disabled employee is suing Twitter over Elon Musk's ban on WFH.

• Dmitry Borodaenko, an engineering manager who was fired from Twitter this week for not coming to the office, had slapped a class action suit against the company. Borodaenko's disability makes him vulnerable to COVID-19, according to the complaint.

Dmitry Borodaenko, a California-based engineering manager who said Twitter fired him this week when he refused to report to the office, filed a proposed class action against the company in San Francisco federal court on Wednesday.

Read more details: https://t.co/uHIcBQ6SzP

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) November 17, 2022

• Lawsuits for Musk are also piling up separately. This time, eight former SpaceX employees are suing Musk for firing them for being critical of him in an open letter. 
• Elon Musk is not happy over the boxes and boxes of lawsuits against him being towed into court. So he is now saying that the American class-action suit is actually regressive, needs reforms, and only 'taxes' the American people. What an inconvenience it must be for billionaires!

Current class-action law is actually a massive tax on the American people and desperately needs reform. It is one of the reasons medication is so expensive in the USA.

Somehow, other countries do just fine without class-action law.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 17, 2022

The trouble for Elon over Twitter is not over: Seven Democratic senators have demanded an anti-trust probe into Elon Musk over the handling of user data at Twitter. 

• On the other side of the planet, the EU is planning to summon Elon Musk to hear about his plans for Twitter and remind him of Europe's strict tech rules. They want to see Musk in person in Brussels. 

Anyways, with Twitter's roughly 2,900 remaining employees, it needs to be seen how many will remain after this turbulent week and whether the social media platform (beloved to many including Musk) will survive.