Elon Musk Hails Pranksters After They Pretend to Be Fired Twitter Employees

Elon Musk has saluted "one of the best trolls ever," after two pranksters convinced journalists they were Twitter employees who he had just fired.

The Tesla and SpaceX boss completed his purchase of Twitter on Thursday in a $44 billion deal, which he'd previously tried to walk away from.

Almost immediately after Musk took control he fired Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, along with the company's chief financial officer and head of legal affairs.

Around this time two men, claiming to be fired Twitter employees, spoke to reporters outside the company's headquarters in San Francisco.

In a hint something was amiss the men gave their names as Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson. Ligma is an online meme which went viral in 2018, as part of a crude joke about an invented illness.

CNBC reporter Deirdre Bosa tweeted a photo of the two men, commenting: "It's happening. Entire team of data engineers let go. These are two of them.

"They are visibly shaken. Daniel tells us he owns a Tesla and doesn't know how he's going to make payments."

At one point the man calling himself Rahul Ligma produced a copy of Michelle Obama's autobiography Becoming.

He said: "Michelle Obama wouldn't have happened if Elon Musk owned Twitter. Obama in 2008 wouldn't have happened without Elon Musk owning Twitter."

Technology publication The Verge confirmed there's no one with the name 'Rahul Ligma' in Twitter's email or Slack databases.

Bosa later admitted she'd been unable to verify if the two men were really ex-Twitter employees, tweeting: "Earlier today we reported on CNBC that a team of data engineers was let go at Twitter based on the account of 2 ppl who told us they were a part of that team. we have not been able to confirm that they were actual employees or that the co [company] has laid off anyone today."

Musk however clearly saw the funny side, joking that "Ligma Johnson had it coming" before describing the prank as "one of the best trolls ever."

In a statement posted to Twitter on Thursday, Musk claimed he wanted to buy the social media company to "help humanity."

He said: "The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.

"That is why I bought Twitter. I didn't do it because it would be easy. I didn't do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love."

Following his purchase Musk said a "content moderation council" would be created to make decisions on "account reinstatements."

However former President Donald Trump, who was banned from Twitter after the January 6, 2021, attack on Congress, said he plans to stick to his social media site Truth Social. He claimed, without providing verification, that Truth Social had "bigger numbers" than other social media sites last week.

Twitter has been contacted for comment.