Hundreds of Twitter employees have resigned en masse following Elon Musk's ultimatum that they commit to what he has dubbed a "hardcore Twitter 2.0."
The employees had until 2pm PT on Thursday to select "yes" on a Google Form to the question of whether they wanted to stay at Twitter, according to reports by The Verge and New York Times among others. Instead, employees began posting farewell messages to what has been described as an avalanche of salute emojis.
Employees were previously told they could sign on for Twitter's "exciting journey" or take severance and "transition away" from the company.
As the resignations poured in, tech journalist Zoë Schiffer reported that Twitter had closed all of its office buildings and suspended badge access. Shiffer reports that Musk and his leadership team are "terrified" that employees will attempt to sabotage the company, and that they are still trying to work out which employees they need to cut access for.
According to Schiffer, the offices will reopen on November 21.
Twitter has been racked by departures and layoffs ever since Musk purchased the company less than a month ago. It has coincided with a disastrous rollout for the new Twitter Blue verification subscription strategy, which has been updated and amended multiple times.
Meanwhile, Twitter seems dangerously close to running afoul of the Federal Trade Commission [FTC]. Earlier today, seven Democratic senators sent a letter to the agency asking it to investigate whether Twitter had violated its consumer privacy agreement.
With more than half of Twitter's 7,500 member workforce having resigned or been fired, it's unclear whether the platform will be able to recover.
"I'm not pressing the button," an employee was reported by The Verge to have posted in Slack. "My watch ends with Twitter 1.0. I do not wish to be part of Twitter 2.0"
Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
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