Tech mogul Elon Musk has taken to Twitter to publicly troll an employee who was fired without receiving any explanation. Haraldur Thorleifsson, who posts under the handle @iamharaldur, tweeted on Monday that he could no longer access his work laptop and demanded clear answers from the billionaire who acquired Twitter months earlier. He said he had already contacted the company’s Human Resources department, mailed Musk directly, and still received no response, prompting him to call out the CEO on the platform.
In reply, Musk asked, “What work have you been doing?” Thorleifsson responded with a list of his responsibilities and achievements at the company, including hiring designers, leading the prioritisation of design projects, and increasing appeal to younger users, among other contributions. Musk reacted with laughing emojis to some of the answers and followed up with more questions, writing, “Level up from what design to what? Pics or it didn’t happen. We haven’t hired design roles in four months. What changes did you make to help with the youths?” Because he was locked out of his computer, Haraldur could not provide the evidence Musk demanded.
Musk then tweeted a YouTube link to a clip from the 1999 comedy film *Office Space*, which features a scene of an employee trying to justify his role to his superiors. He also asked whether Haraldur was a “people’s person.” Haraldur replied that he was indeed a people’s person, that he did not mind being fired, but that he only wanted clear answers. Musk offered no further response.
A few hours later, Haraldur informed his followers that he had indeed been fired from Twitter. “Companies let people go, that’s within their rights. They usually tell people about it but that’s seemingly the optional part at Twitter now,” he wrote. Haraldur is a physically challenged creative designer who runs a non‑profit organization that builds wheelchair ramps in Iceland. He founded the full‑service creative agency Ueno, which was acquired by Twitter in 2021.
Musk has faced criticism for massive layoffs shortly after acquiring the company in 2022. He fired about half of Twitter’s global workforce in November 2022.
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