Elon Musk Responds After Pranksters Posing As Laid-Off Twitter Employees Fool Media Outlets

After closing the $44 billion Twitter Inc TWTR buyout, Elon Musk's stance on Twitter employees is anticipated to be one of the most significant steps as he takes over the company. A report suggests he has no plans to cut staff, but he did not explicitly rule out layoffs. 

Amidst this commotion, two pranksters fooled media outlets as news of the layoffs of Twitter's former employees circulated online. According to the report, pranksters showed up as ex-employee of Twitter. They carried cardboard boxes outside the company's headquarters in San Francisco, showing that they had been laid off from the company after Musk's takeover.

A reporter from CNBC approached them, and upon questioning, one of them said his name was Daniel Johnson, and another identified as Rahul with the surname of "Ligma".

The CNBC reporter then went on Twitter, and in a now-deleted tweet wrote, "It's happening. The entire team of data engineers let go. These are two of them. They are visibly shaken. Daniel tells us he owns a Tesla and doesn't know how he will make payments."

Soon after, skepticism emerged on social media, as one of the pranksters said his name was "Rahul Ligma" — which everyone related to a popular internet meme. 

One Newsmax reporter tweeted that Twitter headquarters got trolled by savage actors pretending to be Twitter employees. 

Lib reporters outside Twitter HQ get absolutely TROLLED by SAVAGE actors pretending to be fired software engineers

The looks on their faces when he says his name is PRICELESS

"Rahul Ligma" pic.twitter.com/l4IIxBdrdw

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 28, 2022

Musk took the opportunity to troll the fake media reports, tweeting, "Ligma Johnson had it coming".

Ligma Johnson had it coming 🍆 💦 pic.twitter.com/CgjrOV5eM2

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022

In response to one of his followers' tweets, Musk took potshots at CNBC.   

Ace reporting by @cnbc 🤣🤣

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2022

Dogecoin DOGE/USD co-creator Billy Markus, who goes by the username Shibetoshi Nakamoto, responded to the bogus media reports and said, "it was a pretty good prank considering how many people fell for it without using their brains."

i like how so many people are "reporting" that twitter has laid off "all of its engineers" and getting all pitchforky about it, when the source is "trust me bro"

protip: stop assuming everything on this stupid site is true. most of it isn't. you know this.

— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) October 28, 2022

Musk responded to him with a laughing emoji. 

🤣💯

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2022

Photo via Shutterstock.