Twitter Employees Sweating as New Shareholder Elon Musk Assumes Board of Directors Position
Elon Musk is taking a prominent role at Twitter, and it could mean accountability for the left.
Musk became the single largest shareholder in the censorious social media network in one day on Monday.
He owns more than 9 percent of Twitter stock after a mass buy, and CEO Parag Agrawal announced Tuesday that Musk would assume a position on the company’s board of directors.
The Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder said in response that he plans to implement “significant improvements” to Twitter in the coming months.
Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
Some employees of the leftist company were less than thrilled about the moves, as journalist Andy Ngo documented in a series of tweets.
A transgender Twitter employee said “I’m honestly kinda terrified” that Musk now has a degree of power over Twitter policies.
“A prominent transphobe buying a large stake in Twitter is not at all funny,” the data scientist said. (It’s unclear why Musk was given that label, but in 2020, he tweeted, “Pronouns suck.”)
Cassie Nick Rumbaugh, a data scientist at Twitter, is among the employees and contractors very upset that @elonmusk is now the largest stakeholder in Twitter.
“A prominent transphobe buying a large stake in Twitter is not at all funny,” she says. pic.twitter.com/gFSy52YsTZ
— Andy Ngô ?️? (@MrAndyNgo) April 4, 2022
Another employee said he feared for the “company culture” after Musk’s investment.
Gerard Taylor, a senior software engineer at Twitter, is concerned about the leftist company culture following @elonmusk becoming the largest shareholder. pic.twitter.com/4sXIBESHKU
— Andy Ngô ?️? (@MrAndyNgo) April 4, 2022
Others shared similar sentiments about Musk.
Ashna Guliani, a Twitter software engineer, posted a video of a crying woman to show how upset she is over @elonmusk becoming the largest stakeholder in the company. pic.twitter.com/s7jfdsGBra
— Andy Ngô ?️? (@MrAndyNgo) April 4, 2022
The technologist and entrepreneur has described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” a vision that could complicate the company’s extensive censorship of conservatives.
Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint.
Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2022
Twitter shares surged considerably after Musk’s aggressive entry into the company on Monday.
Elon Musk has been named a board director of Twitter with a term that will expire in 2024, the company announced. $TWTR was up about 9% in premarket trading after shares surged 27.1% in Monday’s session. https://t.co/Qq36k6ixy7 pic.twitter.com/GWNo0Uto2V
— MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) April 5, 2022
Any change in Twitter policies ultimately might come through the hiring of new employees who support a free speech vision where users are allowed to criticize powerful institutions.
Musk is the wealthiest man in the world, according to Forbes. The South African-born entrepreneur’s net worth is valued at more than $290 billion.
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