Turns out no one can compete with Elon Musk's Twitter

iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI

About three weeks after Elon Musk bought Twitter in October 2022, #RIPTwitter started trending. Musk had gutted the staff, and more workers quit when he gave them an ultimatum: Work "hardcore" hours or leave. With the platform on the brink, its users held a funeral. They spent the evening saying goodbye to their followers, shitposting on the #hellsite for the last time, and rounding up the best and worst tweets they had saved in the platform's 16-year history. They were somber, giddy, and anxious about the future of online dialogue. It seemed certain that a competitor would rise.