None of the former employees have complied with X’s request, this masthead was told.

Twitter was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange after Musk bought the company. He subsequently brought about sweeping changes, making between 75 per cent and 80 per cent of its employees redundant, rebranding it to X, as well as loosening free speech on the platform, including the reintroduction of controversial figures such as right-wing public intellectual Jordan Peterson and misogynist influencer Andrew Tate.

Advertisers have since started pulling back on their spend on the platform, while official correspondence with the company has become increasingly difficult with a lack of local presence.

The platform has also recently been asking former employees to return company laptops, almost 18 months after they were sacked. In some cases, employees have said they made several attempts to return X-owned devices with no success.

X was approached for comment, responding with an automatic reply of: “Busy now, please check back later.”

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The associate director for corporate matters at boutique legal firm Burch&Co, Victoria Moffat, said it was unlikely Australia’s laws would limit X’s ability to chase up the payments.

Employee share schemes of this type typically were not regulated by Australia’s Fair Work Act, she said.

“I couldn’t speak specifically to this particular plan, also given it was a US plan, rather than an Australian one,” she said.

Employment law specialist Hayden Stephens said it sounded like an odd mistake. He suggested the best thing for the former Twitter staff involved to do would be to ask X to clearly explain how the error occurred and ask for supporting documentary evidence.

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Stephens said that under Australian employment law, when there had been a genuine mistake, “there is usually an obligation to repay that money”.

Musk, also chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, has faced off against Australia’s eSafety commissioner and the Albanese government this year after refusing to remove a video of the Wakeley church stabbing. Meanwhile, Tesla shareholders will vote on Musk’s controversial $80 billion pay package this week.

The eSafety Commissioner dropped its Federal Court last week, which Musk labelled a victory, saying: “Freedom of speech is worth fighting for.”