Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, got into a public verbal exchange with an employee. He not only questioned their work but also the authenticity of their disability. Now he is backtracking and apologizing.
What led to the verbal exchange? Since Elon Musk took over Twitter in October 2022, there have been several waves of layoffs. By the end of February 2023, reports indicated that at least 200 employees were fired again.
Who is the employee? Among those terminated was apparently the Icelander Haraldur “Halli” Thorleifsson (Icelandic: Þorleifsson), who sold his company Ueno to Twitter in 2021 and had been working for the short messaging service since.
Halli, as he calls himself, is an Icelander entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was named Icelandic businessman of the year in 2019 and launched a project in 2021 to help local businesses provide accessible services for users of mobility aids.
As the 45-year-old explained, he did not receive any notification about the end of his employment; only access to his work computer was blocked.
According to his account, he could not reach any officials and eventually reached out to Elon Musk directly via Twitter after days of uncertainty: “If enough people share this, maybe you will respond to me here?” (via Twitter).
Musk reacted in the worst possible way by engaging in a public back-and-forth. However, the confrontation did not go as Twitter’s CEO had envisioned.
Musk engages in Twitter exchange
How did Musk respond? The 51-year-old replied to the tweet by asking what work he had actually done. After Halli confirmed that he was not bound by confidentiality agreements, he listed what he had done for the company.
However, Musk not only questioned the work done but also claimed that the employee was only going public because he was after a large payout – although he was already wealthy. The fortune that Twitter’s CEO referred to comes from the sale of Ueno to Twitter.
Furthermore, he publicly doubted that Halli, who has a hereditary muscle disease and uses a wheelchair, had a disability: after all, he could tweet.
The reason he confronted me publicly was to get a large payout. As far as I know, he has hardly worked in the last four months, neither in middle management nor anywhere else.
Despite his claims on Twitter that he worked, it has turned out that he told the HR department he couldn’t work because he couldn’t type, but during the same period typed up a storm on Twitter.
Musk provided no evidence. Instead, the 51-year-old seemed to get deeper into a hole, eventually stating that supporting Halli made him lose faith in humanity.
What did Halli have to say about it? The former employee meanwhile confirmed that he had now received confirmation of his dismissal and summarized the events in a series of tweets (via Twitter).
Additionally, he ruthlessly laid bare the details of his disability and peppered the thread with jabs directed at Musk: he thanked the CEO for his concern about his fingers, stating that writing shorter texts was fine, but after a long time, his hands would cramp.
There was also a note that Musk had publicly disclosed confidential health information with his tweets. Here we show you a relevant excerpt from the thread, but it’s worth reading it in full (via Twitter).
Musk backtracks: “Had wrong information”
On March 7, the Twitter CEO suddenly took a different tone: In response to a comment, he stated that he had been in contact with Halli and admitted that Twitter might not be the ideal platform for such a conversation:
Due to your comment, I just had a video call with Halli to find out what is true and what I was told. It’s a long story. It’s better to talk to people than to communicate via a tweet.
Soon after, Musk apologized in a separate tweet: He had misunderstood the situation and received false and partly irrelevant information. Halli is considering staying on Twitter. He has not yet commented on whether he actually wants to stay at the company.
Elon Musk seems to view Twitter as a kind of game. He does not post there as the CEO of the company, but as a private person who wants to express opinions and hot takes.
A careless tweet can quickly ruin a career:
A gaming YouTuber posts incorrectly on Twitter – Ruining 8 years of work with a tweet
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