Twitter employees ‘battle-weary’ as Elon Musk deal drags on
On the walls of Twitter’s offices around the world — in San Francisco, London and New York — neon signs light up encouraging employees to #lovewhereyouwork.
But over the past six months, the mantra has become difficult for many to live by. Since April, Twitter staff have become Silicon Valley’s most pitied workforce, left in an uncomfortable limbo after Elon Musk made his uninvited $44bn bid for the platform, before attempting to pull out of the deal, all while goading them and discrediting their work.
Now, one of their sharpest critics may become their owner. Last week Musk revived his Twitter buyout plans, and a Delaware judge postponed a legal dispute between the two parties, giving them until October 28 to reach a resolution on the sale.
Going forward, staff have been analysing Musk’s previous comments for signs of how he will shake up the company. Last week, he tweeted that “software engineering, server operations & design will rule the roost” at Twitter under his ownership, and promised “very rapid product evolution”.
Alongside previous promises to “defeat the spam bots” and “authenticate all humans”, Musk has also recently said buying Twitter will be “an accelerant to creating X, the everything app” — signalling grander plans to incorporate messaging, payments and commerce into a super app.
But it is Musk’s plans to change what Twitter employees believe to be nuanced and well-informed rules on speech that have sparked the most consternation internally. While Twitter is reviewing its own policies on permanent bans around breaches such as repeatedly sharing misinformation, Musk has said he would do away with permanent bans altogether and allow all but illegal content on the platform. He previously told the Financial Times he would reinstate former president Donald Trump to the platform.
“Am worried not so much about the Elon takeover and the consequences in the workplace, more so that he will turn this platform into a political weapon for harassing everybody,” wrote one employee on the anonymous message board Blind, where users’ place of work is verified using company email addresses.
In particular, some staff question whether the unpredictable nature of Musk, who recently got into a Twitter spat with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy after proposing the war in Ukraine be solved by ceding territory to Russia, is at odds with controlling a platform that has global implications for political speech.
Musk upset staff when singling out senior Twitter figures for criticism, including policy chief Vijaya Gadde, a move that triggered a barrage of attacks from the entrepreneur’s loyal online followers. Others pointed to text messages made public that show the billionaire getting angry when Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal asked him not to tweet out “Is Twitter dying?”
“Someone pushed back on Elon in the softest way possible and then he threw a temper tantrum,” the former executive said.
“This is what staffers are afraid about. Who is possibly going to tell Elon that he is not right because then he is going to fire you or turn his hoards of followers against you?”
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Hannah Murphy
