Elon Musk Fires Twitter Engineer Who Publicly Corrected Him

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        Elon Musk Responds To Twitter Engineer Who Corrected Him By Firing Him On Twitter
    

        Theo Wargo/WireImage
    
Engineer Eric Frohnhoefer angered the Twitter CEO by publicly calling him out—and paid the price for it.
By AB KeithNov 16, 2022
AB Keith
AB Keith is an educator turned roadtripper who is currently teaching virtually while touring the USA.  Her dream is to visit all the national parks and create a series of nonfiction children's books about NP adventures through the eyes of her dog, Backpack Benny.
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It seems Elon Musk isn't quite finished getting rid of Twitter employees. 
Since acquiring the company for $44 billion last month, Musk laid off more than half of Twitter's employees, claiming the workforce was too large and focused too much on content moderation, platform safety, product development and marketing.
Musk also fired dozens of employees who criticized their new boss.
But he's not done yet.
On Sunday, Musk posted an apology for Twitter running "super slow" in many countries, blaming the app for the shortcomings.
In his Tweet, Musk said:
"Btw, I'd like to apologize for Twitter being super slow in many countries.""App is doing >1000 poorly batched RPCs just to render a home timeline!"\u201cBtw, I\u2019d like to apologize for Twitter being super slow in many countries. App is doing >1000 poorly batched RPCs just to render a home timeline!\u201d
 — Elon Musk (@Elon Musk)
        1668362458
One of Twitter's engineers—Eric Frohnhoefer—quotetweeted Musk's tweet.
He claimed:
"I have spent [about] 6 yrs working on Twitter for Android and can say this is wrong."\u201cI have spent ~6yrs working on Twitter for Android and can say this is wrong.\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668374055
Musk then responded to the employee asking:
"Then please correct me. What is the right number?"Followed by:
"Twitter is super slow on Android. What have you done to fix that?"\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer Twitter is super slow on Android. What have you done to fix that?\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668374055
Frohnhoefer replied, agreeing there are issues with the app, but coding—as Musk implied—was not the problem.
You can read Frohnhoefer's detailed response below.
@EricFrohnhoefer/Twitter
After being criticized for publicly correcting Musk, Frohnhoefer replied Musk should ask his questions in a non-public manner if he doesn't want public replies.
So in true Elon Musk fashion, he fired Frohnhoefer.
\u201cElon Musk fired this Twitter employee on Twitter.\u201d
 — unusual_whales (@unusual_whales)
        1668458613
On Monday, Frohnhoefer tweeted an image of his locked computer screen, with the words, "This Mac is locked. The system PIN is required to use this Mac," indicating Frohnhoefer is no longer an employee of the company.
His tweet was captioned:
"Guess it is official now."\u201cGuess it is official now.\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668465787
While some said Fronhoefer shouldn't have called out his boss on a public platform, others defended him saying Musk was publicly throwing his employees under the bus from the beginning.
\u201c@elonmusk @EricFrohnhoefer Hey - since you own Twitter now - maybe talk to your employees in person versus tweet-trolling?\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668374055

\u201c@elonmusk @EricFrohnhoefer Ahh yes, just another normal day of a billionaire talking down to one of his employees on his public page with millions of followers at his beck and call...\n\nWhat is wrong with you, dude? Buyer's remorse bringing you down?\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668374055

\u201cMusk declares something he knows nothing about, is corrected by an employee who explains the problem, and then fires that employee and presents their ideas as his own. If this doesn't sum up his entire career I don't know what does.\u201d
 — David C Bell (@David C Bell)
        1668454488

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer Wow he fired you because you challenged him, crazy, dont worry people are with you not him.\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668465787

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer Live with the knowledge that you schooled a billionaire so bad he couldn't have a good comeback so he fired you\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668465787

\u201c@MomAngtrades @EricFrohnhoefer As someone who has been a boss for more than two decades, I disagree. I saw the initial exchange. He was respectful and explained things to Musk, who then decided to flex in public and fire him. (Even when I've had to fire someone, I have always done it in private).\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668465787

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer You went out like a pro and a champ \ud83d\udc4a\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668465787

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer Faith in the ability of humans to own their talent severely dented by so many comments on here. He's the CEO, so what? It's a job and one he's proving exceedingly bad at. Why should employees with knowledge and ability show complete deference to someone because of their title?\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668465787

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer Dude, truly an epic exit. \ud83d\udd25 I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll be rolling in job offers, but let me know if I can connect you with anyone at Google.\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668465787

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer Who wants to work at a place where the boss complains about your work publicly without even knowing what they're talking about? I can't imagine who would be ok with all this. I think you've done everything right in these circumstances!\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668465787
Sadly, it seems that Frohnhoefer isn't alone. 
He tweeted yesterday more employees were fired for standing up to Musk.
"Just woke up to the news that more Tweeps were summarily fired last night.""At this rate no one will be left to run Twitter."\u201cJust woke up to the news that more Tweeps were summarily fired last night. At this rate no one will be left to run Twitter.\u201d
 — Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1)
        1668523407
According to those who were fired, they received an email reading:
"We regret to inform you that your employment is terminated immediately.""Your recent behavior has violated company policy."We wonder how long it will be before Musk runs out of employees to terminate.
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It seems Elon Musk isn't quite finished getting rid of Twitter employees.

Since acquiring the company for $44 billion last month, Musk laid off more than half of Twitter's employees, claiming the workforce was too large and focused too much on content moderation, platform safety, product development and marketing.

Musk also fired dozens of employees who criticized their new boss.

But he's not done yet.

On Sunday, Musk posted an apology for Twitter running "super slow" in many countries, blaming the app for the shortcomings.

In his Tweet, Musk said:

"Btw, I'd like to apologize for Twitter being super slow in many countries."

"App is doing >1000 poorly batched RPCs just to render a home timeline!"

\u201cBtw, I\u2019d like to apologize for Twitter being super slow in many countries. App is doing >1000 poorly batched RPCs just to render a home timeline!\u201d
— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1668362458

One of Twitter's engineers—Eric Frohnhoefer—quotetweeted Musk's tweet.

He claimed:

"I have spent [about] 6 yrs working on Twitter for Android and can say this is wrong."

\u201cI have spent ~6yrs working on Twitter for Android and can say this is wrong.\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668374055

Musk then responded to the employee asking:

"Then please correct me. What is the right number?"

Followed by:

"Twitter is super slow on Android. What have you done to fix that?"

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer Twitter is super slow on Android. What have you done to fix that?\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668374055

Frohnhoefer replied, agreeing there are issues with the app, but coding—as Musk implied—was not the problem.

You can read Frohnhoefer's detailed response below.

@EricFrohnhoefer/Twitter

After being criticized for publicly correcting Musk, Frohnhoefer replied Musk should ask his questions in a non-public manner if he doesn't want public replies.

So in true Elon Musk fashion, he fired Frohnhoefer.

\u201cElon Musk fired this Twitter employee on Twitter.\u201d
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) 1668458613

On Monday, Frohnhoefer tweeted an image of his locked computer screen, with the words, "This Mac is locked. The system PIN is required to use this Mac," indicating Frohnhoefer is no longer an employee of the company.

His tweet was captioned:

"Guess it is official now."

\u201cGuess it is official now.\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668465787

While some said Fronhoefer shouldn't have called out his boss on a public platform, others defended him saying Musk was publicly throwing his employees under the bus from the beginning.

\u201c@elonmusk @EricFrohnhoefer Hey - since you own Twitter now - maybe talk to your employees in person versus tweet-trolling?\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668374055

\u201c@elonmusk @EricFrohnhoefer Ahh yes, just another normal day of a billionaire talking down to one of his employees on his public page with millions of followers at his beck and call...\n\nWhat is wrong with you, dude? Buyer's remorse bringing you down?\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668374055

\u201cMusk declares something he knows nothing about, is corrected by an employee who explains the problem, and then fires that employee and presents their ideas as his own. If this doesn't sum up his entire career I don't know what does.\u201d
— David C Bell (@David C Bell) 1668454488

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer Wow he fired you because you challenged him, crazy, dont worry people are with you not him.\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668465787

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer Live with the knowledge that you schooled a billionaire so bad he couldn't have a good comeback so he fired you\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668465787

\u201c@MomAngtrades @EricFrohnhoefer As someone who has been a boss for more than two decades, I disagree. I saw the initial exchange. He was respectful and explained things to Musk, who then decided to flex in public and fire him. (Even when I've had to fire someone, I have always done it in private).\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668465787

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer You went out like a pro and a champ \ud83d\udc4a\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668465787

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer Faith in the ability of humans to own their talent severely dented by so many comments on here. He's the CEO, so what? It's a job and one he's proving exceedingly bad at. Why should employees with knowledge and ability show complete deference to someone because of their title?\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668465787

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer Dude, truly an epic exit. \ud83d\udd25 I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll be rolling in job offers, but let me know if I can connect you with anyone at Google.\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668465787

\u201c@EricFrohnhoefer Who wants to work at a place where the boss complains about your work publicly without even knowing what they're talking about? I can't imagine who would be ok with all this. I think you've done everything right in these circumstances!\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668465787

Sadly, it seems that Frohnhoefer isn't alone.

He tweeted yesterday more employees were fired for standing up to Musk.

"Just woke up to the news that more Tweeps were summarily fired last night."

"At this rate no one will be left to run Twitter."

\u201cJust woke up to the news that more Tweeps were summarily fired last night. At this rate no one will be left to run Twitter.\u201d
— Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1 (@Eric Frohnhoefer @ \ud83c\udfe1) 1668523407

According to those who were fired, they received an email reading:

"We regret to inform you that your employment is terminated immediately."

"Your recent behavior has violated company policy."

We wonder how long it will be before Musk runs out of employees to terminate.

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Elon Musk Responds To Twitter Engineer Who Corrected Him By Firing Him On Twitter

Engineer Eric Frohnhoefer angered the Twitter CEO by publicly calling him out—and paid the price for it.

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