The resignations multiplied in Twitter after an ultimatum from Elon Musk, owner and boss of the US company for three weeks, who asked employees who survived an initial wave of layoffs to choose between giving themselves “completely, unconditionally” or leaving.

“I may be exceptional, but… I’m not stalwart,” tweeted a former platform employee, Andrea Horst, whose LinkedIn profile still reads “Supply Chain & Capacity Management (survivor) @Twitter.”

Added the hashtag “#lovewhereyouworked” (loves the place where you worked), as did many other employees who announced their choice.

According to various US media, hundreds of Twitter workers chose to leave on Thursday.

half of the 7,500 company employees based in the state of California were already fired two weeks ago by Musk, and some 700 employees had already resigned months ago, even before they were sure the sale would go through.

On Thursday night, many users of the social network, including former collaborators, journalists and analysts, wondered if the end of Twitter was near.

“And… we just hit a new peak in Twitter usage,” said Musk, who bought the platform for $44 billion on Oct. 27.

Musk also tweeted the well-known meme of an actor posing on top of a grave. Both the man and the tombstone were covered in the blue bird Twitter logo. The post received more than a million likes.

In a subsequent tweet, sent on Friday, the billionaire said: “Record numbers of users are logging in to see if Twitter is dead, ironically making it more alive than ever!”

offices closed

On Thursday afternoon, Twitter warned all employees that company buildings were temporarily closed and inaccessible, even for entry with an identification card, according to an internal memo released by various US media.

“Offices will reopen on Monday, November 21. Thank you for your flexibility. Please continue to abide by the House Rules by refraining from discussing sensitive information on social media, with the press, or elsewhere,” the message said.

On Wednesday, Musk asked individual employees of the social network to commit to “working long hours at high intensity” “to build a Twitter 2.0 revolutionary and succeed in an increasingly competitive world.

“Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade,” he said in this communication to which AFP had access.

Employees had until Thursday afternoon to click the “yes” box and affirm their commitment to “the new Twitter.”

If they didn’t, they lost their jobs and received three months of severance pay, an unusual method even in the United States, where labor laws are less protective of employees than in many other developed countries.

Twitter did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment on the new measure.

On Thursday night, anti-Musk messages were projected on the facade of the company’s San Francisco headquarters. It could read “Elon Musk, shut up”, “Stop toxic Twitter” or “Going bankrupt”, according to photos by Gia Vang, a reporter for the local NBC network.

“A big adventure”

Dozens of current and former Twitter employees gathered Thursday night in “Spaces,” the platform’s audio rooms, to support each other and reminisce about old times.

The employees who chose to stay spoke of their unwavering attachment to the social network and their desire to see it survive and even be reborn.

“I have no words, I am just grateful to say that I was able to land my dream job and do more than I ever thought possible. It has been a great adventure,” Deanna Hines-Glasgow, a “former Tweep” ( the nickname of Twitter employees), who was a senior manager of client accounts at the social network, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Esther Crawford, Twitter’s director of product development and one of the few managers who hasn’t been fired, who hasn’t resigned, and who still publicly supports the new leader, tweeted: “To all the Tweeps who decided to make today their last day : Thank you for being amazing teammates through the ups and downs.”

“I can’t wait to see what they do from now on,” he added.