The chances of Twitter outages have "dramatically increased" according to a leading industry expert.

Matt Navarra said that after Elon Musk's attempt to force Twitter staff to take on more intense hours was thwarted by company workers rejecting the CEO's plans, the platform is at increased risk of outages.

Navara warned that while the site was unlikely to go down in the next couple of days, it could come under serious strain as dozens of vital software engineers leave just before major events like the Fifa World Cup.

Further concerns have been raised about the social media platform's durability after Musk fired 7500 workers after taking over the business earlier this year.

This comes as Musk claimed that staff would have to take on more intense working patterns to build what he called a new "hardcore" Twitter.

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Tottenham Independent: PA - Elon Musk shakeup could put Twitter at risk to outagesPA - Elon Musk shakeup could put Twitter at risk to outages (Image: PA)

Navara said the company was “already at greater risk” of falling offline due to the investor's initial job cuts, but warned there had now been a “significant shift” in that risk because of the latest exodus of staff.

In an interview with PA, he said: “There are reports of teams that are critical for a number of Twitter’s infrastructure systems now being completely empty – those teams have been completely decimated.

“Therefore if there’s anything that goes wrong or breaks or there’s a sudden surge in activity then the capability of Twitter to repair it or troubleshoot it is greatly reduced because of the lack of skilled engineers that the teams have now.”

He added: "Twitter is kind of running on autopilot at the moment with its IT systems, and that is a strategic move by Elon Musk to protect the stability of the platform while he figures out the next move.

"But with the World Cup coming up, that’s going to be a real test of the resilience and capacity of Twitter to maintain a platform during a busy period.

“So if there’s going to be a time when it is going to go offline, I think the greatest risk at the moment is going to be during some of the key moments of the World Cup.”