Posted on by Shashwathi Sudhakar

The en-mass resignation of Twitter employees sparked by Elon Musk’s work demands has raised questions about the microblogging site’s future.

This fallout followed Elon Musk’s 44 billion $ acquisition of Twitter on October 27th.

#RIPTwitter, #Twitterdown were among the many hashtags that were trending post the mass employee walkout leading to the closure of Twitter offices.

Former data scientist at Twitter, Melissa Ingle said, “My experience after the takeover was the company in a culture of fear, low morale and disarray.”

The Twitter 2.0 work environment has been making headlines for being too taxing. In an email to his employees, Musk sent out a Google form, asking them to either commit to “long hours of high intensity” for the new “hardcore Twitter 2.0” or leave. 

An estimated 1200 employees chose to leave and Twitter offices closed down.

This led to many questioning Twitter’s future. Digital Account Manager and social media expert Ellen Smith said that Musk has thrown “Twitter’s dependability out the window,” which can very well cause users to ditch the platform.

Many former employees tweeted about their resignations as well as their disdain for Musk’s work ethic.

This wave of resignations followed a mass layoff, which led to the firing of 4400 employees.

It is estimated that the Twitter workforce has dwindled to less than 2000 employees.

Melissa said, “We heard about the massive layoffs happening and everyone was worried about their future….I was in the second round (of firing). No one was told they were fired, we were just locked out.”      

Besides the loss of employees, several banned Twitter accounts have also been reinstated including those of Donald Trump, Andrew Tate and so on.

Melissa revealed that his policy on free speech absolutism is a major cause for concern – “He (Musk) has made several disparaging comments on content moderation” 

She also added that there are not enough people “to keep Twitter running and free of toxicity, hate speech, abuse and misinformation.”

Ellen said that these major changes – from staff cuts to the charge for blue ticks – has “done a number on Twitter’s credibility”.

Many are skeptical about Twitter’s future as a free-for-all platform, without contractors and engineers to fix internal issues. 

But, many see it as a new era of free speech.

Musk has also been tweeting about the progress Twitter has made. 

Ellen said that Twitter may not be deserted if it brings something “which will revive peoples’ love for the platform.”

“Creators and platforms should go where the audience does,” she added. 

So, it seems like Twitter as we know it has ended. It is about whether or not Twitter 2.0 will appeal to the masses.