Angry messages were beamed onto the Twitter headquarters amid anger at a cull of employees by new owner Elon Musk.

The illuminated words branding the billionaire a 'supreme parasite' and 'petulant pimple' as well as a 'dictator's asskisser' and 'lawless oligarch' appeared on the building in California on Thursday night, November 17.

Activists or disgruntled former employees are believed to have organised the stunt, which came as Musk ordered the remaining staff to work 'long hours at high intensity'. Hundreds of employees are believed to have left the company on Friday November 18 sparking fears the social media platform could collapse.

Twitter had been burning through billions of dollars in investment cash since 2012 leading to staggering annual financial losses.

Musk is attempting to revive the company's finances with drastic changes to the system, including bringing back banned users in an apparent move towards greater levels of freedom of speech, which had been curtailed under Twitter's previous administration.