Some tweeted tear-filled emoji and memes of individuals having emotional breakdowns, whereas others advised The Post they had been too in shock to talk. At Monday’s city corridor, leaders had been imprecise in response to questions on future layoffs, adjustments to the corporate’s strategy to free speech and security, and whether or not the corporate will proceed to generate income from promoting.
“Totally understand that this is entertainment for some,” one worker tweeted. “But please understand that this is certainly not entertainment for me.”
“The news today is so crazy I literally forgot I have COVID,” one other tweeted.
Not all employees had been pessimistic about Musk’s arrival. “Elon did not tie up 20 percent of his net worth to destroy Twitter,” a Twitter worker advised The Post, noting that the corporate was behind its friends on many fronts. “I personally think a change like this may be what Twitter needs.” The worker described being “cautiously optimistic” about Musk.
To many observers and employees, Musk’s acquisition bid regarded unlikely at first. Musk didn’t seem to have sufficient funds to make the provide on his personal, and Twitter’s board appeared to try to derail the deal. But in current days, Musk mentioned he secured the financing by means of loans, and on Monday, the corporate introduced in a news launch that the acquisition had gone by means of. The acquisition, which might rank among the many largest-ever activist takeovers of a publicly traded firm, would take the corporate personal over the course of three to 6 months, executives mentioned within the city corridor.
Musk’s involvement in Twitter, which started this month when he made public that he had acquired a massive stake within the firm, had already produced outcries from employees. In dozens of inner messages obtained by The Post, employees expressed worries that the firebrand Musk might inflict injury to the corporate’s tradition and make it more durable for individuals to do their jobs. Observers and misinformation researchers echoed the criticism.
The firm, which is primarily based in liberal San Francisco and has greater than 5,000 employees, has spent years constructing a progressive company tradition that enables employees to say absolutely anything they need and to reside wherever they select. Twitter was the primary firm to take motion towards former president Donald Trump for his tweets supporting Capitol rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, and engineering groups have spent years constructing instruments to battle spam, disinformation and hate speech below an initiative identified as wholesome conversations.
“I don’t know any non-engineer who works on health issues who sees how this helps,” said a Twitter employee in an interview in response to questions about Musk’s ownership, referring to the company’s health division that enforces rules against harmful content such as hate speech and misinformation. “Most find it dispiriting.”
Musk, on the other hand, has used his Twitter account — which has more than 84 million followers — to champion free speech and question content moderation decisions such as the banning of Trump and has appeared to mock gender pronouns. He has also been known as a harsh manager who will seek to fire people on the spot when they are not onboard with his way of thinking, including at one point disbanding his entire public relations team.
In the town hall, Twitter executives and board chair Taylor acknowledged emotions were running high for people. But they insisted that the deal was financially good for Twitter and that Musk could unlock the company’s untapped potential, while offering few details on what that meant.
Taylor said the merger received a unanimous vote from the board, and Agrawal said there would be no immediate layoffs or changes to the business while the deal goes through. Once the company goes private, employees’ shares would be paid out to them in cash.
But Agrawal was far less clear about the future, particularly on questions about whether Musk would change how the company polices speech and enforces its rules online — and even whether the company would maintain its business model of running advertising long term.
Agrawal said leadership “will continue to spend time with Elon to learn more, and as we learn more, we will share it will you.” He also said his team would seek to better understand what Musk’s “aspirations and ambitions might be” so that executives could figure out how to “best collaborate” with the new owner.
Employees appeared unsatisfied, according to chats during the town hall that an employee described to The Post. A group of employees created a document of “questions for Elon Musk,” while others asked during the town hall whether he would restore Trump’s Twitter account. Some asked whether leadership was concerned about an employee exodus.
The company also said it would prevent employees from making any changes to Twitter’s service until Friday, according to Bloomberg News, a move that could keep employees from retaliating by doing damage to Musk’s Twitter account.
The concern has precedent: Years ago, a Twitter employee temporarily took down Trump’s account.
Joe Menn contributed to this report.