Elon Musk has apologized after mocking an ex-Twitter employee who reached out to his boss asking whether or not he had been fired because he could not access his work computer.
"I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful. He is considering remaining at Twitter," Musk tweeted Tuesday evening, a day after going back and forth on the social media platform with Haraldur Thorleifsson (@halli) and claiming Thorleifsson did no actual work and misled Twitter leaders about his disability preventing him from typing.
Thorleifsson said he logged on to his work computer last Sunday to find out he was locked out, along with 200 others. After getting no response as to the status of his job, he decided to tweet at Musk: "Maybe if enough people retweet you'll answer me here?"
Musk replied, asking Thorleifsson what work he's been doing, to which Thorleifsson, after getting approval to break confidentiality, explained. Musk not only quizzed him about his work but questioned his disability and need for accommodations to do his job. Thorleifsson says he has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair. The ex-Twitter employee lives in Iceland and has about 180,000 Twitter followers, up at least 30,000 since his exchange with Musk.
What work have you been doing?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023
"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," Thorleifsson added in his tweets to Musk. "But as I shared I finally got confirmation that I am not an employee anymore. Again, that's totally within your rights. No complaints. But can you make sure I get paid what I'm owed?"
After being questioned over his legitimacy, Thorleifsson took several jabs at Musk: "Oh! I forgot to mention that I read you can't go to the toilet on your own either @elonmusk I'm sorry to hear about that. I know the feeling. The only difference is I can't do it because of a physical disability and you're afraid someone you hurt will attack you while you poop."
Oh! I forgot to mention that I read you can't go to the toilet on your own either @elonmusk
— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023
I'm sorry to hear about that. I know the feeling.
The only difference is I can't do it because of a physical disability and you're afraid someone you hurt will attack you while you poop. https://t.co/0XcsMpJW9z
Some speculated that an extreme cautioning from his lawyers spurred the Twitter CEO's change in tone and apology a day after the two men's initial exchange.
Thorleifsson's tenure at Twitter predates Musk, having joined in 2021 when Twitter, under previous management, acquired his startup Ueno, per the Associated Press.
Since Musk acquired Twitter last October, thousands of employees have been laid off. Musk fired a senior Twitter engineer in February after the engineer explained why the billionaire's account was experiencing a drop in interest. He also forced staff to build a system that artificially increased his views.
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These problems, in addition to relatively frequent outages, have led many to question the future of the social media platform. Musk has announced that by the end of 2023, he will appoint a new CEO. He hosted a Twitter poll in December asking if he should step down. A majority of users voted "yes."
Twitter reported in January that its ad revenue had dropped 40% year-over-year.