Tweeting up a storm
Elon Musk and Haraldur Þorleifsson have been fighting on Twitter. Þorleifsson wanted first of all to know whether he was still an employee of Twitter, which turned out to not be the case. hafa verið að skylmast á Twitter. Haraldur vildi fyrst fá að vita hvort hann væri enn starfsmaður Twitter eður ei, sem kom síðan í ljós að hann væri ekki. Secondly, Þorleifsson is demanding that the company pays him what he is owed. Composite image
Ten days ago, access to Haraldur Þorleifsson’s work computer at Twitter was blocked. The company’s chief of staff cannot confirm whether Þorleifsson is still employed by the social network.
This is reflected in a tweet from Þorleifsson, starting with the words “Dear Elon Musk”. He says that while his access was blocked, about 200 other Twitter employees were affected by the same thing.
Þorleifsson, who is always called Halli appeals to the chief of staff in his tweet, saying that he has not responded to his emails, but perhaps he will reply if enough people share the tweet.
Halli, who was the head designer at the company, was made redundant at the end of February.
The layoffs were covered by the New York Times, which reports at least 200 people lost their jobs.
The founders receive a larger benefit package
It is noted that some founders of smaller tech companies who sold their operations into Twitter and joined the company at the same time have been left out in the cold.
People like Esther Crawford is mentioned, but she founded a video chat app and just led Twitter’s policy change to start charging a fee for so-called identity tags alongside their names, and Halli, who founded design company Ueno and sold it to Twitter in 2021.
"Several of the founders were given larger benefit packages as part of the purchase of their businesses, which could make it more expensive let them go, since they need to be paid out in shares and bonuses," the newspaper quoted three people said to be familiar with those benefit packages.
Dutchman Martijn de Kuijper, who also sold his company, Revue, to Twitter in 2021, lost his job as well.
Said he would continue
It has previously been revealed that Halli is not exactly a fan of Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, who bought the company last year.
However, he said last May that he would continue at Twitter.
"Until someone kicks me out," he added, then. That situation has now materialized.
Asked about his projects
Halli said he had difficulty answering the question on Twitter because he was bound by confidentiality. He could, however, do so with the approval of lawyers.
Musk responded shortly afterward, saying he was authorized to talk.
In Halli's reply, he outlines some of the tasks as shown below:
Halli then refers back to his original question.
Rather than answer the original question, Musk continues to ask further questions about the projects.
Halli’s reply, however, does not seem to have impressed the CEO, who responds by sending laughing icons.
From there things only get worse.
Then Musk goes on to ask Harald if he is a people's person, and posts a link to a trailer from the film Office Space, most likely for the purpose of making fun of Halli.
To which Halli replies that he is indeed a people's person and adds: „To be clear. You have every right to lay me off. That's totally fair and fine. But usually people are told when that happens. Maybe with a letter or something. Which didn't happen for 9 days despite multiple emails to you and others."
Then he comes again to the main question which is that Twitter should pay up what he is owed.
Changing the narrative
Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, then comes out and claims that Halli, an entrepreneur and former designer at the tech giant, did not work for the company and as a result could not be fired.
In a tweet from earlier today, the director says that Halli, who has a muscle atrophy disorder, used his disability as an excuse for not being able to write on a keyboard.
"I can't say I have a lot of respect for that," Musk's tweet reads.
The dispute has attracted international media attention and the BBC, among others, has covered it.
Halli said in the interview with BBC that he was worried about his retirement fund.
"This is extremely stressful. This is my retirement fund, a way to take care of myself and my family as my disease progresses. Having the richest man in the world on the other end of this, potentially refusing to stand by contracts is not easy for me to accept," he said.
