Overview

2022 Twitter Layoffs refers to reports of widespread layoffs at Twitter in November 2022 following Elon Musk's acquisition of the company. As various employees learned they were laid off, many used the hashtags "#OneTeam" and "#TwitterLayoffs" to share news about their job terminations and show support for one another. Some also believed the layoffs could be illegal due to California's WARN law. While the layoffs primarily generated viral discussions and debates in early November, more minor discourse surrounding people from the social network being fired took place online in late October, including the viral prank of Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson.

History

Twitter "One Team"

"One Team" is a business and leadership philosophy that emphasizes teamwork and involves bringing a team of people around a unified goal.^[1][2][3] The Twitter team has referred to itself as "One Team" and used the hashtag "#OneTeam" for years, including for the 2020 Twitter "One Team" conference.^[4]

Elon Musk's Twitter Acquisition, Rumored Layoffs, Top Executives Fired

On October 28th, 2022, Elon Musk officially became the CEO of Twitter after his acquisition of the company. That day, MSN^[5] reported that top executives at Twitter were fired, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, General Counsel Sam Edgett and Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde. Gadde posted a statement to Twitter^[6] about his time at the company that day.

Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson Prank

On October 28th, 2022, at around 1:30 p.m. EST, CNBC^[7] published an article titled, "Elon Musk’s first day owning Twitter leads to havoc and a possible hoax about layoffs," covering Musk's purchase of Twitter. In the original iteration of the article, the reporter, Deirdre Bosa, interviewed two men outside of Twitter HQ holding cardboard boxes that claimed to have been fired. The men's names were reportedly Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson, the former name a reference to the "ligma" meme (roughly translating to "lick my"). The article on CNBC was updated that night at 8:11 p.m. EST, removing the interview portion with the two after people made it clear that "Ligma" and "Johnson" were not actually laid off from Twitter and were trolling reporters.

November 2022 Layoffs, #OneTeam and #TwitterLayoffs

On November 3rd, 2022, CBC^[8] published a story titled, "Twitter employees brace for layoff notices today," reporting that Twitter HQ closed its offices temporarily and cut employee access to internal systems, telling the employees that they'd receive an email informing them whether or not they were laid off. The email read, "In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday." Reportedly, Musk wanted to cut around 3,700 jobs to "slash costs and impose a demanding new work ethic."

That day, Twitter employees began posting to Twitter using the hashtag "#OneTeam" to share whether they'd been laid off or not. That night at around 10:29 p.m. EST, Twitter^[9] user @SBkcrn posted, "Looks like I’m unemployed y’all. Just got remotely logged out of my work laptop and removed from Slack. #OneTeam forever. Loved you all so much," garnering over 30,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Minutes later, Twitter user @LisaBloom, a lawyer, tweeted about California's "WARN" law,^[13] which requires companies to give 60 days' notice for massive layoffs, writing, "I know you didn't get that notice," garnering over 113,000 likes in a day (shown below, left). At 11:53 p.m. EST, Twitter^[10] user @ChrisYounie shared that he'd been laid off, writing, "Well this isn’t looking promising. Can’t log into emails. Mac wont turn on. But so grateful this is happening at 3am. Really appreciate the thoughtfulness on the timing front guys" (shown below, right).

On November 4th, Twitter^[11] user @Phonz posted a drafted official @Twitter tweet that reads, "bye literally everyone," writing, "wont get to Tweet it, but here it is – the last @Twitter Tweet from my team and I," garnering over 28,600 likes in under a day (shown below). That day, Twitter^[12] user @elibelly posted that she did not get laid off, writing, "but I stayed up last night watching hard-working, talented, caring people get logged out one by one and I don't know what to say," garnering over 4,100 likes in under a day.

Twitter^[14] user @yashagarwalm posted about being laid off from Twitter with a photo of himself smiling, holding to Twitter-branded pillows, garnering over 32,000 likes in under a day (shown below). India Today published a story about Yash's post to Instagram^[15] that day, garnering over 15,000 likes.

On November 4th, 2022, the hashtag "#TwitterLayoffs" also trended on Twitter in the U.S.^[18]

Eric Frohnhoefer Firing

On November 13th, 2022, Twitter developer Eric Frohnhoefer quote-tweeted a tweet by Musk about technical problems Twitter was facing, correcting what he thought was a misunderstanding by Musk (seen below).^[19] The tweet received over 89,400 likes, 5,000 retweets and 740 quote tweets in 23 hours.

Musk then replied to the tweet a few hours later, asking Frohnhoefer, "What have you done?" Forhnhoefer replied with a thread describing his years of work at Twitter and highlighting what he felt the reasons were for the issue (seen below). Twitter user dankim^[20] reposted the exchange on November 14th, receiving over 15,700 likes in 9 hours. Frohnhoefer has purportedly worked there since 2014.^[21]

Shortly after, Twitter user pokemoniku replied to Frohnhoefer's tweet, appearing to criticize him for his public argument with his "boss."Several hours after on November 14th, Musk then tweeted that he fired Frohnhoefer (seen below).^[22]

Notably, Frohnhoefer had earlier expressed the difficulty of resisting the urge to tweet something that might lead to problems with his career, potentially referencing the temptation to criticize Musk publicly (seen below).^[23]

Online Reactions

As reports of layoffs continued to be shared on Twitter into early November 2022, current and ex-employees and people on the outside responded largely in support of the team, sending encouragement and condolences to the team members.

Some users also attempted to troll the hashtags by posting tweets claiming they'd been laid off, including a tweet^[16] by @strangertemple on November 4th where he posts a photo of Draksyde Phil claiming to be an ex-employee, garnering over 1,200 likes in under a day (shown below).

Some Twitter users criticized the laid-off employees. On that same day, Twitter^[17] user @Asher_Newbold wrote, "If anyone's wondering why 50% of Twitter employees needed to be made redundant, check out the #OneTeam hashtag. You'd think someone had kicked them out of their favourite yoga club, macha latte bar or wellness salon," garnering over 100 likes in under a day.

Search Interest

External References