Musk's Criticism of Twitter Employees Sparks An Outpouring of Resentment

Musk expressed dissatisfaction with Twitter's move in 2020 to restrict the spread of a New York Post piece regarding US Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter. The billionaire, who has over 87 million Twitter followers, dubbed the decision by the firm to disable the Post's account on the network "very insensitive."

Musk, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion on Monday, was replying to a tweet by Saagar Enjeti, a podcast host, regarding Vijaya Gadde, the executive who manages Twitter's policy and legal teams.

Gadde was described by Enjeti as "Twitter's top censorship supporter, famed for gaslighting the world on Joe Rogan's podcast and censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story." Gadde was thereafter the target of a barrage of personal assaults by Twitter users.

Musk is permitted to post about the purchase while it is pending "so long as such Tweets do not denigrate the Company or any of its Representatives," according to Twitter's merger agreement with Musk. There was no indication that Twitter, which agreed to the arrangement with Musk after evaluating his offer, would seek to terminate the transaction in light of Musk's recent criticism.

Musk and Twitter representatives did not immediately reply to calls for comment. Gadde was unavailable for comment.

Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo chastised Musk for the move. "Bullying is not the same as leadership. What is occurring? You are exposing an executive at the firm you recently acquired to harassment and threats "Costolo sent out a tweet.

Musk immediately responded to Costolo through Twitter: "What are we discussing? I'm simply stating that Twitter should be politically neutral."

Musk recently added his voice to a debate over Twitter's deputy general counsel, Jim Baker. Musk responded to negative comments about Baker expressed in a tweet by social media celebrity Mike Chernovich, "Sounds very nasty."

Baker did not reply quickly to a request for comment from Reuters.

Katie Harbath, a former public policy director at Meta Platform Inc's Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) who now leads consultancy Anchor Change, said Musk's criticism of Twitter's content moderation raises concerns that he could overrule suggestions from the policy and procedure team.

A critical question, Harbath added, is whether Musk will "replace people within Twitter with people who share his views."

Others expressed concern that under Musk, Twitter's efforts to combat abuse, misogyny, and misinformation might regress.

"Musk's daily activities on Twitter accentuate the site's worst features and undermine the positive work that Twitter employees have been doing," said Adam Conner, vice president for digital policy at the Center for American Progress.

While Musk's activities on Twitter has come under increased attention following his acquisition of Tesla on Monday, the world's wealthiest person is no stranger to controversy and criticism on the network.

Musk assailed Missy Cummings, a Duke University professor chosen as an advisor by the United States' auto safety commission, in a tweet last October that was followed by personal assaults on Cummings online. Cummings, a long-time critic of Tesla's (NASDAQ:TSLA) driver assistance software, later canceled her Twitter account.

Musk referred to a British diver as a "pedo man" in 2018 after the diver dismissed Musk's proposal to use SpaceX's mini-submarine to rescue a boys' soccer team trapped in a cave in Thailand.

"If he is unable to rein in the divisiveness, Twitter will gradually lose relevance as certain types of talks become inaccessible," said David A. Kirsch, an associate professor of management and entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland.