Elon Musk takes the helm at Twitter, fires top executives

Elon Musk began his ownership of Twitter with actions that included firing Twitter’s CEO, CFO, and policy chief. He recently walked into Twitter’s headquarters, holding a porcelain sink, symbolizing that his pending purchase and pending actions should sink in with those following this event. He wants to do away with permanent bans on users. However, he assured advertisers that Twitter would not become a free-for-all hellscape.

From Reuters:

“The bird is freed,” he tweeted after he completed his $44 billion acquisition on Thursday, referencing Twitter’s bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have fewer limits on content that can be posted.

The CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and self-described free speech absolutist has, however, also said he wants to prevent the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hate and division.

Other goals include wanting to “defeat” spam bots on Twitter and make the algorithms that determine how content is presented to its users publicly available.

Yet Musk has not offered details on how he will achieve all this and who will run the company. He has said he plans to cut jobs, leaving Twitter’s 7,500 employees fretting about their future. He also said on Thursday he did not buy Twitter to make more money but “to try to help humanity, whom I love.”

In a running poll on messaging app Blind about whether Twitter employees will be employed in the company in three months, less that 10% voted “yes.” Of the 266 participants, 38% said “No” and over 55% chose the “popcorn” option. Blind allows anonymous messaging by employees to air their grievances where people can sign up with their corporate emails.

Musk fired Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, according to people familiar with the matter. He had accused them of misleading him and Twitter investors over the number of fake accounts on the platform.

Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out, the sources added.

Musk, who also runs rocket company SpaceX, plans to become Twitter’s CEO after completing the acquisition and also plans to scrap permanent bans on users, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Twitter, Musk and the executives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

‘CHIEF TWIT’

Before closing the deal, Musk walked into Twitter’s headquarters on Wednesday with a big grin and a porcelain sink, subsequently tweeting “let that sink in.” He changed his Twitter profile description to “Chief Twit.”

He also tried to calm employee fears that major layoffs are coming and assured advertisers that his past criticism of Twitter’s content moderation rules would not harm its appeal.

“Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” Musk said in an open letter to advertisers on Thursday.

As news of the deal spread, some Twitter users were quick to flag their willingness to walk away.

“I will be happy to leave in a heartbeat if Musk, well, acts as we all expect him to,” said a user with the @mustlovedogsxo account.

Could you guess which side of the argument most of the people, who are who are hinting on leaving Twitter, are? Reuters has more information here.

Category: America, Internet