If there was a moment when Jack Dorsey first morphed from Jesus to Judas in the minds of many former Twitter staffers, it was when he described Elon Musk as the “singular solution” to take over the social media platform he co-founded. “I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness,” Dorsey posted last April on the site.

These gushing statements were the culmination of a years-long ‘bromance’ between the two Silicon Valley billionaires, one that dramatically altered the future of Twitter. Dorsey, according to court documents and people familiar with the matter, was instrumental in accommodating the $44bn sale of the platform to Musk, who has since said goodbye to 90 per cent of its workforce and dramatically relaxed its moderation policies.

Now, that alliance appears to have come to an end.