What started because the firing of two longtime Twitter engineers after they criticized their new boss has become a purge, as Elon Musk clamps down on inside and exterior dissent. In the previous 24 hours, an estimated dozen or so staff have been let go after brazenly rebuking Musk, who has referred to as himself a “free speech absolutist,” in line with two folks acquainted with the matter. Musk and Twitter have not confirmed the firings, however staff have been monitoring the scenario via public tweets and personal messages.

In one case, Musk introduced a firing in a tweet. Engineer Eric Frohnhoefer, who labored on Twitter’s app for the Android cellular working system, on Sunday reposted considered one of Musk’s tweets with a remark, saying that Musk’s understanding of a technical a part of Twitter’s app was “wrong.” Musk replied and requested Frohnhoefer to elaborate, earlier than writing, “Twitter is super slow on Android. What have you done to fix that?”

After making an attempt to clarify his pondering in various tweets, Frohnhoefer was requested by one other consumer why he hadn’t shared his suggestions together with his new boss privately. The engineer, who has labored at Twitter for greater than eight years, replied, “maybe he should ask questions privately. Maybe use Slack or email.”

On Monday morning, Musk wrote that Frohnhoefer had been fired. Frohnhoefer retweeted that submit, and included a saluting emoji that many staff used after they have been laid off earlier this month. Twitter and Frohnhoefer did not instantly reply to requests for touch upon his standing.

Another engineer, Ben Leib, additionally misplaced his job following a public posting important of Musk. He commented on the identical submit about load occasions from Musk, writing, “As the former tech lead for timelines infrastructure at Twitter, I can confidently say that this man has no idea wtf he’s talking about.” Leib, who labored at Twitter for a decade, confirmed to Bloomberg that he was fired on Sunday.

Sasha Solomon, a software program engineer, posted Monday evening that she was fired for a important submit. “I said it before and I’ll say it again,” she tweeted. “Kiss my a– elon.” Another engineer, Nick Morgan, tweeted a screenshot of the e-mail despatched from Twitter HR that mentioned he was fired after his “recent behaviour violated company policy.”

“My Twitter account was protected at the time, so I can only assume this was for not showing 100 percent loyalty in Slack,’ he tweeted, referring to Twitter’s internal company communications. Morgan and Solomon could not be reached for comment.

Twitter has been thrown into chaos since Musk took over late last month. Many workers remain upset that Musk fired half of the company’s 7,000-plus employees, including most of the senior managers, within about a week of his $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3.6 lakh crore) buyout.

The billionaire also rapidly changed the corporate culture. While it wasn’t previously routine for employees to challenge leadership publicly at Twitter, workers often spoke out on internal Slack channels and by email before Musk showed up, sometimes posting criticism or concerns to the entire company.

Musk’s changes have led to a lack of communication internally in terms of who is in charge and what the company’s priorities are, current and former staffers say.

The moves have also led to concerns that San Francisco-based Twitter is vulnerable to product breakdowns or technical outages. On Monday, Twitter implemented another coding freeze, halting product updates to the app, and employees say they weren’t given a clear reason why.

Part of Musk’s motivation for purchasing Twitter was to loosen content restrictions, and make it a destination for “free speech” the place folks can say “outrageous” issues. So far, staff say, that sentiment would not lengthen to his company insurance policies.

© 2022 Bloomberg L.P.