Elon Musk Mocked Amid Report of 3-Day Shutdown, Plea for Employee Silence

Twitter is reportedly in "disarray" following a spree of employees resigning in response to new CEO Elon Musk's issuance of a "hardcore" ultimatum to his staff.

Musk told employees in an email on Wednesday that they had until 5 p.m. Thursday to choose to stay for "Twitter 2.0" or accept a three-month severance package. According to a report from The New York Times, hundreds of employees chose the latter prior to Musk's deadline.

In the email, Musk suggested the overhaul "will mean working long hours at high intensity," adding, "Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade."

The Times said the company "appeared to be in disarray" as Musk and his advisers attempted to stop "critical" Twitter employees from leaving ahead of the deadline as well. As of Thursday night, Twitter had also announced via email that all office buildings would be shut down and employee badges would be disabled until Monday.

Tech reporter Zoë Schiffer tweeted Thursday night that Twitter had decided to close its office buildings so the company can "figure out which Twitter workers they need to cut access for." Schiffer added that employees were asked to "'continue to comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere.'"

Musk was mocked on Twitter as news of the office shutdowns spread, as some users pointed out that part of his "hardcore" policy was to have employees return to in-person work. Jason Rabinowitz, co-host of the aviation podcast AvTalk, wrote in response to Schiffer's report, "Real galaxy brain billionaire management going on here."

Grant Brisbee, sportswriter for The Athletic, poked fun at Musk's failed "Blue Verified" policy that was suspended last week, tweeting: "what if I pay $8 for badge access."

Mo Elleithee, executive director of Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service, also pointed out that Musk had originally bought the social network because "he called himself a 'free speech absolutist,'" responding to the report that employees have been asked to "refrain" from speaking about what's going on inside the company.

Other users started to prepare for the end of the platform itself and shared links of how to connect with their followers on other social networks just in case. Canadian actor Devon Sawa said the news marked the end of his time on the app, writing it was "a good 10+ year run on here."

Musk has wasted no time to issue changes since taking over the platform late last month, starting with firing nearly half of its full-time employees in the first few weeks. The Times reports that another round of layoffs came on Tuesday after Musk "combed through" tweets from employees who criticized him.

One of his biggest changes was to create a subscription-based verification option for users, which resulted in several imposter accounts being created within a few days of the subscription being available. The program, titled Blue Verified, will relaunch November 29.

Newsweek has reached out to technology-industry expert Greg Pass for comment.