Pranksters fool media by pretending to be 'sacked Twitter employees', Elon Musk reacts

Two pranksters set out to deceive journalists on Friday as they stood outside Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, posing as ex-employees of the social media company who had been fired after Elon Musk took over as the CEO. Deirdre Bosa, a journalist for CNBC, approached the duo while they were holding cardboard boxes. While one said his name was Daniel Johnson, another identified as Rahul with the surname of “Ligma”- a cheeky internet joke. 

“It’s happening. 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’s going to make payments,” the journalist wrote on social media. Soon after, skepticism began to erupt online, with multiple internet users recognizing from the Ligma reference that the two were pranksters.

“Ligma Johnson had it coming,” joked Twitter CEO Elon Musk. CNBC then acknowledged that their journalists were unable to verify the identities of the two men who claimed to be laid-off Twitter employees. “Fyi -some questions being raised about whether these are really twitter employees,” Bosa wrote. 

Internet users debunk the prank

Highlighting the lapse in reporting, Twitter product manager Paul Lee wrote: “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.” Lee also clarified that Twitter employees do not use Zoom to communicate, thus dispelling what one of the pranksters had said about being fired during a Zoom meeting. 

The prank comes amid apprehensions of Twitter employees, who fear being laid off after Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the social networking company. Last week, the Washington Post reported that the Tesla founder was planning to sack 75% of Twitter’s workforce, but Twitter CEO denied any such plans.