Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, entered into a fiery Twitter debate with Icelandic entrepreneur and philanthropist Haraldur Þorleifsson, who was laid off from the company last month. Musk implied that Haraldur, known as Halli, had not been fulfilling his job requirements at Twitter, while Halli asked whether Twitter would pay him the severance the company owes him now that he has been let go.
Laid off without being told about it
At the end of February, Halli deduced he had been laid off from Twitter when he was no longer able to log into his workstation with his Twitter credentials. His job was one of many casualties in the latest of several layoffs at the company, which has gone from 7,500 employees to under 2,000 since Musk took ownership. Although he could no longer access his workstation, Halli stated that the head of HR was not able to confirm whether he was an employee or not.
All other options exhausted, Halli resorted to tweeting at Elon Musk directly, asking for answers.
Dear @elonmusk 👋
9 days ago the access to my work computer was cut, along with about 200 other Twitter employees.
However your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am an employee or not. You’ve not answered my emails.
Maybe if enough people retweet you’ll answer me here?
— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 6, 2023
Haraldur did receive a reply from Musk, who asked “What work have you been doing?” When Haraldur replied, Musk seemed to make little of his work, responding with crying laughing emojis.
🤣🤣
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023
In a reply to another user’s comment, Musk accused Haraldur of not fulfilling his job requirements and lying about his disability.
The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him from typing, yet was simultaneously tweeting up a storm.
Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023
Haraldur has since responded to that tweet with a long thread explaining his condition as well as his wealth, acquired when he sold his company, Ueno, to Twitter in 2021.
Hi again @elonmusk 👋
I hope you are well.
I’m fine too. I’m thankful for your interest in my health.
But since you mentioned it, I wanted to give you more info.
I have muscular dystrophy. It has many effects on my body.
Let me tell you what they are: https://t.co/2vb16kP6Yv
— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023
The proceeds of the sale of Ueno rocketed Halli to the top of Iceland’s list of highest taxpayers, where he has also gained recognition as one of Iceland’s most active philanthropists. Among his philanthropic projects is Ramp Up, a non-profit building accessibility ramps throughout the country.
Haraldur swept Iceland’s person of the year awards in 2022 being awarded the honour by four separate media outlets.
Read More: Man of the Year
Twitter’s HR department has since reached out to Halli confirming he has been laid off.
