Status: 12/02/2022 12:01 p.m
Thousands lost their jobs after Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover. Many do not know why they were fired. Like Emanuel Cornet, who draws critical Twitter cartoons. Now he is suing the tech company.
This is how a termination at a large tech company works: Emanuel Cornet is in a meeting, Elon Musk is already the new Twitter boss. “I was logged out during the meeting,” says the ex-employee. Shortly thereafter, the company laptop also logs off from all other internal Twitter programs.
A minute passes, then the device shuts down automatically and is locked. Another 20 minutes later, the cancellation comes by e-mail, as Cornet describes it. Even he was surprised that it happened so quickly. It was “very efficient”.
Cornet knows the tech world well. He worked at Google for 15 years. He worked as a programmer at Twitter in San Francisco for the past year and a half.
Termination without reason for termination
He doesn’t know why Cornet was suddenly fired. There is no reason for termination in the e-mail: “I can only guess.” Thousands were laid off after Musk’s takeover, but he was among the first.
The programmer has two theories as to why it hit him so quickly. First: “I wrote a small program for Twitter employees to help back up important internal work documents.” He forwarded this program to colleagues an hour before his laptop automatically logged off.
Critical Cartoons
His second assumption: the termination was a reaction to his cartoons. Cornet draws in his free time – including caricatures. He has published various Twitter-critical articles online. For example, one shows a blue airplane with the Twitter bird attached to the tail. The plane is on fire and about to crash.
“Everyone knew that layoffs were pending,” says Cornet. To avoid them, he develops an idea: “If I give Elon Musk a cartoon in which he can be seen himself, maybe I’ll have a small chance of not being fired.”
One of Emanuel Cornet’s drawings shows a Twitter plane crashing. The speech bubble says: “Now we have to accelerate.”
Image: twittoons.com
Meeting with Elon Musk
Cornet meets Elon Musk personally – and has one of his large-format caricatures with him. It shows Musk in a store, he just dropped the Twitter logo – it broke. The shopkeeper says, “You broke it, so buy it!”
The new Twitter boss accepted the picture, the ex-employee describes the encounter. The two talked for five to ten seconds.
A few days later, Cornet is then fired. He is now complaining about that. On the one hand, because he did not find out the reason for his resignation. On the other hand, because he was released at such short notice – without warning.
The cartoon shows Elon Musk in a store with logos from various tech companies. He dropped the Twitter logo. The seller says, “You broke it, so buy it!”
Image: twittoons.com
Class action suit against the layoffs
He has filed a class action lawsuit with other ex-employees. The plaintiffs rely on California law that provides for a 60-day notice period. It is not yet clear whether there will actually be a procedure.
However, Cornet does not want to go back to Twitter. And he’s not about the money either: “I doubt that much will come of it in the end.”
The programmer is concerned with the principle. He suspects that the terminations on Twitter are intended to demoralize those affected. And that’s why he wants to set an example with the lawyers and the other plaintiffs: “People like Elon Musk should understand that people fight back when they do bad things.”
Fired for a comic? Ex-employee sues Twitter
Nils Dampz, ARD San Francisco, 12/2/2022 5:41 a.m