A Former Twitter Engineer Says Elon Musk Wrongly Fired him for allegedly leaking company information to the press.
Engineer Eric Frohnhoefer stated in a series of tweets that he was fired on Sunday after working for Twitter since 2017. He claims the purported reason given by Twitter for his firing was that he had leaked confidential company information to the media.
However, Frohnhoefer asserts that the actual reason he was let go was because he publicly corrected Musk on Twitter about the platform’s technical operations.
“I have been fired for calling out Elon’s lies about Twitter,” Frohnhoefer tweeted on Monday. “That’s all there is to it.”
Last week, after acquiring Twitter for $44 billion, Musk tweeted that Twitter was slow because its servers run mostly on outdated Linux. Frohnhoefer responded, saying this wasn’t true and that Twitter has been moving to faster architecture for years.
“Elon is wrong,” Frohnhoefer wrote in his reply. “Very wrong.”
Just a day later, Frohnhoefer received an email from Twitter HR stating he was fired for “violating company policy.” The policy cited was one that prohibits sharing confidential company information publicly or with outside parties.
Frohnhoefer vehemently denies leaking any sensitive information to the media or otherwise. He points out that everything he tweeted was already publicly known or easily available information about Twitter’s tech stack.
“I didn’t even have access to the type of info people accuse me of leaking. My access was already stripped due to ‘changes in needs,'” Frohnhoefer tweeted. He believes Musk saw his public correction as an act of defiance rather than helpful insight.
This is not the first controversial firing at Twitter since Musk took charge. On his very first day as Twitter’s owner, Musk dissolved the company’s board of directors and dismissed CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and senior leadership. Last week he laid off nearly 50% of Twitter’s employees.
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Musk has not yet commented on Frohnhoefer’s claims that he was unjustly terminated. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO has said radical staff cuts were necessary to curb Twitter’s heavy losses. But his murky criteria for letting workers go have ex-employees concerned.
Frohnhoefer’s story highlights Musk’s harsh, impersonal style of management. Many industry watchers worry about his shoot-from-the-hip decision-making and lack of transparency. They say Musk fails to acknowledge the human impact of his rapid overhauls at Twitter.
Former VP of Twitter Service Katrina Lane, who recently left the company, tweeted support for Frohnhoefer.
“I worked with Eric for many years at Twitter and he exemplified integrity, curiosity, and commitment to building a better platform for people around the world,” Lane wrote.
Other current and former Twitter employees have also questioned Musk’s leadership approach in online posts. But most have declined to criticize Musk publicly for fear of retribution.
Frohnhoefer said he decided to speak out about his firing because he felt a duty to inform the public about the culture of arbitrary firings under Musk’s direction.
“The hand-wavy argument from Elon about Twitter having been manipulated by the Democrats does not justify this abuse of power. I’m not going to let it happen silently,” Frohnhoefer stated.
He added, “The culture of fear Elon has instilled in a very short amount of time has been insane to witness.”
Frohnhoefer said he is interviewing for new positions but fears being blacklisted in the industry due to his firing. He has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover his living costs and potential legal fees.
Musk has yet to publicly address the accusations concerning Frohnhoefer’s termination. The billionaire touted himself as a free speech proponent in his push to buy Twitter. But his actions against employees like Frohnhoefer seem at odds with his stated principles, critics say.
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They argue Musk’s takeover of Twitter has given him unchecked authority over not just the company, but an influential platform for public discourse.
