Pranksters pretend to be laid-off Twitter staff; Here’s how Elon Musk reacted

A pair of pranksters tricked media outlets on Friday as the news regarding the lay-offs of Twitter's old employees went rounds on the internet. Amid Elon Musk Twitter takeover, some pranksters tried to hog the limelight. According to a New York Post, two pranksters posed as laid-off Twitter employees outside the company's headquarters in San Francisco carrying cardboard boxes.

Skepticism immediately emerged as one prankster said his name was “Rahul Ligma” - a reference to a popular internet meme - and held a copy of Michelle Obama’s book “Becoming” aloft while speaking to reporters. The other said his name was “Daniel Johnson.”

The pranksters gave an interview to prominent US media outlets outside Twitter's office. Later Bloomberg reported that Twitter’s internal slack channels have “lit up with suspicion” that it was a hoax. While The Verge confirmed that the duo were not actually ex-Twitter workers and had carried out a hoax.

Elon Musk has come out with a witty reaction to the whole prankster episode by tweeting that "Ligma Johnson had it coming."

"Comedy is now legal on Twitter," Musk added.

Yesterday, Twitter fired four top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal and legal executive Vijaya Gadde. "The bird is freed," billionaire Musk tweeted after completing the whopping $44 billion takeover of Twitter.

Subsequently, reports emerged the company fired Agrawal, Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and General Counsel Sean Edgett.

Agrawal, 38, was appointed Twitter CEO in November last year after the social media site’s co-founder Jack Dorsey had stepped down.

An IIT Bombay and Stanford alumnus, Agrawal joined Twitter over a decade ago when there were fewer than 1,000 employees at the company.

“Agrawal, who was appointed Twitter’s chief executive last year, had clashed” with Musk “publicly and privately in recent months about the takeover,” according to US media.

Musk also “singled out” Gadde, 48, “criticising her for her role in content moderation decisions at the company”, it added.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone thanked Agrawal, Segal, and Gadde for their "massive contribution" to the business.

"Thank you to @paraga, @vijaya , and @nedsegal for the collective contribution to Twitter. Massive talents, all, and beautiful humans each!" Stone tweeted.

Musk arrived at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday and had been meeting with engineers and advertising executives.

Musk tweeted a video of himself walking into Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco carrying a kitchen sink with the caption: "let that sink in!"

Musk also updated his Twitter description to “Chief Twit.”