{"id":1715857,"date":"2022-10-29T08:31:10","date_gmt":"2022-10-29T12:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1715857"},"modified":"2022-10-29T08:33:57","modified_gmt":"2022-10-29T12:33:57","slug":"media-trolled-by-pranksters-pretending-to-be-fired-twitter-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/media-trolled-by-pranksters-pretending-to-be-fired-twitter-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Trolled by Pranksters Pretending to Be Fired Twitter Employees"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmedia-trolled-by-pranksters-pretending-to-be-fired-twitter-employees%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1715857&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>A pair of pranksters posing as laid-off Twitter employees tricked multiple media outlets Friday as the public anxiously awaited news on whether Elon Musk had begun axing staffers.<\/p>\n<p>CNBC\u2019s Deirdre Bosa interviewed two people who identified themselves as Twitter employees and were seen near the company\u2019s San Francisco headquarters carrying cardboard boxes.<\/p>\n<p>Skepticism immediately emerged on social media. One of the pranksters said his name was \u201cRahul Ligma\u201d \u2014 a reference to a popular internet meme \u2014 and held a copy of Michelle Obama\u2019s book \u201cBecoming\u201d aloft while speaking to reporters. The other said his name was \u201cDaniel Johnson.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/10\/28\/departing-twitter-employees-say-layoffs-have-started-as-elon-musk-takes-over.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CNBC<\/a>, Bloomberg, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-11365633\/Two-Twitter-data-engineers-claim-laid-outside-HQ.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Daily Mail<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/internet\/twitter-elon-musk-day-1-rcna54546\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NBC<\/a> were among the outlets that reported layoffs were underway after the duo spoke to the media.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s happening,\u201d CNBC\u2019s Bosa tweeted. Entire team of data engineers let go. These are two of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are visibly shaken,\u201d Bosa added. \u201cDaniel tells us he owns a Tesla and doesn\u2019t know how he\u2019s going to make payments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>ABC7 Bay Area reporter Suzanne Phan also tweeted about the alleged Twitter employees, writing that one had claimed \u201che was terminated during a zoom meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-10-28\/musk-starts-cutting-jobs-at-twitter-staff-leave-with-boxes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bloomberg<\/a> later reported that Twitter\u2019s internal slack channels have \u201clit up with suspicion\u201d that it was a hoax. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/10\/28\/23428775\/twitter-fake-employee-layoff-rahul-ligma-elon-musk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Verge confirmed<\/a> the duo were not actually ex-Twitter workers and had carried out a hoax.<\/p>\n<p>As chatter about a potential hoax intensified, Bosa acknowledged there was confusion about whether layoffs were actually underway. CNBC updated its story to acknowledge it wasn\u2019t immediately able to verify their identities.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/twitter-layoffs-01.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/twitter-layoffs-01.jpg\" alt=\"Twitter pranksters\" class=\"wp-image-24443512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/twitter-layoffs-01.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/twitter-layoffs-01.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/twitter-layoffs-01.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>The Twitter pranksters identified themselves as data engineers.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cFyi -some questions being raised about whether these are really twitter employees,\u201d Bosa added.<\/p>\n<p>CNBC\u2019s Yasmin Khorram said someone sitting at the front desk at Twitter\u2019s office building said they had \u201cnever seen those 2 guys.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Paul Lee, a product manager at Twitter, was among those who called out CNBC over its report.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQuite ironic that a major news outlet failed to do basic diligence and fell for a crisis actor prank, resulting in the spread of misinfo, on the first day of new ownership,\u201d Lee tweeted. \u201cAll you had to do was ask to see a badge or look for bird-themed stuff in the boxes. Also we don\u2019t use Zoom.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-wrapper twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Questions being raised if these are legitimate employees. I asked someone sitting at the front desk, they wouldn&#8217;t comment but told me &#8220;I&#8217;ve never seen those 2 guys.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/y16K4cK4ty\">https:\/\/t.co\/y16K4cK4ty<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Yasmin Khorram (@YasminKhorram) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YasminKhorram\/status\/1586059088487600128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 28, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cYou got conned. Name is \u2018Rahul LIGMA.\u2019 C\u2019mon man,\u201d another Twitter user wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter employees have feared for months that Musk would enact sweeping layoffs at the company once his $44 billion takeover was complete. Those fears escalated last week after the Washington Post reported Musk was planning to cut 75% of Twitter\u2019s 7,500-employee workforce.<\/p>\n<p>Musk immediately fired several executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, but it\u2019s still unclear how many employees will be ousted. He denied the 75% figure was accurate while meeting with Twitter employees earlier this week.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-wrapper twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Quite ironic that a major news outlet failed to do basic diligence and fell for a crisis actor prank, resulting in the spread of misinfo, on the first day of new ownership. All you had to do was ask to see a badge or look for bird-themed stuff in the boxes. Also we don\u2019t use Zoom <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QtIrBjOH3H\">https:\/\/t.co\/QtIrBjOH3H<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Paul Lee (@BeeBimBop) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BeeBimBop\/status\/1586051256014888960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 28, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>A source familiar with the situation told the Post that Twitter employees feel as though they\u2019re \u201cin limbo,\u201d with no one having a clear idea of how many layoffs are coming.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are just keeping their heads down until they see what happens,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n<p>The source added that remaining employees are fearful about speaking to the media now that Musk has assumed control of the company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFolks don\u2019t want to get fired for leaking,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A pair of pranksters posing as laid-off Twitter employees tricked multiple media outlets Friday as the public anxiously awaited news on whether Elon Musk had begun axing staffers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1715860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1715857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1715857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1715860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1715857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1715857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1715857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}