Elon Musk posts Twitter grave meme as #RIPTwitter trends

Tech billionaire claims company is ‘more alive than ever’ since his $44bn takeover

Elon Musk shared a meme of a grave emblazoned with the Twitter logo as #RIPTwitter trended on Friday, 18 November, 2022 (Mauro_txt/ Twitter)

Elon Musk has posted a meme of a grave with a Twitter logo on the headstone in response to the hashtag #RIPTwitter trending on the social media platform.

The term was the number one trend on Twitter on Friday morning following a chaotic few days for the company.

Employees are currently locked out of their offices after hundreds of them reportedly refused to agree to an “extremely hardcore” ultimatum issued by Mr Musk.

It required workers to agree to work “long hours at high intensity” in order to build “Twitter 2.0”, or else be fired. Having already laid off more than half of Twitter’s global employees, the latest demand led to speculation that the social media giant would no longer be able to operate if more software engineers leave the firm.

The meme that Mr Musk shared in response to the #RIPTwitter trending topic mocked the idea that Twitter was dead, having claimed that the site is experiencing record user numbers since his $44 billion takeover.

“Record numbers of users are logging in to see if Twitter is dead, ironically making it more alive than ever,” he tweeted.

Mr Musk also attempted to calm user concerns by tweeting: “The best people are staying, so I’m not super worried.”

Mr Musk also met some top employees on Thursday to try to convince them to stay, one current employee and a recently departed employee who is in touch with Twitter colleagues told Reuters.

In Twitter’s internal chat tool, over 500 employees wrote farewell messages on Thursday, a source familiar with the notes said.

A poll on the workplace app Blind, which verifies employees through their work email addresses and allows them to share information anonymously, had showed 42 per cent of 180 respondents opting for “Taking exit option, I’m free!”

A quarter said they had chosen to stay “reluctantly,” and only 7 per cent of the poll participants said they “clicked yes to stay, I’m hardcore.”

The exact number of employees intending to leave the company could not be immediately established.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

Additional reporting from agencies.