Elon Musk called a 'space Karen' in words projected onto the side of Twitter HQ

Elon Musk has been called a 'space Karen' by activists after a series of insults were projected onto the Twitter headquarters.

It comes as Twitter saw engineers and other workers leave in their droves on Thursday, after new owner Musk gave them a choice to pledge to “hardcore” work or resign with severance pay.

People have now begun taking to Twitter to announce they were signing off after Musk’s actions.

In that time, activists have been busy projecting messages onto the Twitter headquarters.

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

A set of insults have been spotted scrolling across the building aimed at the billionaire, including “dictator’s asskisser,” “mediocre manchild,” and “space Karen”.

In case you’ve been avoiding the Twitter news, Musk bought the social network for $44bn in October before unveiling controversial plans to allow anyone on Twitter to become “verified” by paying $8 per month.

The feature was then postponed just days into its launch due to a plague of $8 pranksters impersonating celebrities.

The platform now faces an existential threat. Since taking over Twitter less than three weeks ago, Musk has cut half of the company's full-time staff of 7,500 and an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation and other crucial efforts.

Musk wrote that employees “will need to be extremely hardcore” to build “a breakthrough Twitter 2.0” and that long hours at high intensity will be needed for success.

He later appeared to change his stance by writing to them: “All that is required for approval is that your manager takes responsibility for ensuring you are making an excellent contribution.”

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.