Elon Musk

Elon Musk has only been in control of Twitter for a short time, but he’s already making big moves. Musk fired a number of key executives on day one including Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, but in a new tweet he claims he’ll be moving more slowly when it comes to making content moderation decisions. Musk hasn’t said much since taking over at Twitter, but he will apparently form some kind of policy advisory body to oversee content moderation decisions. Musk said the group will reflect “diverse viewpoints” though we’ll certainly have to wait and see on that one. Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022 Importantly, Musk says he won’t be making any major decisions or account reinstatements— i.e. restoring former President Donald Trump — before the council is put in place. Because it’s Musk that might happen within hours or it might not happen at all, it’s hard to say. On Thursday, Musk also let go of Vijaya Gadde, a well-respected top policy executive at the company who helped it navigate complex legal and moderation issues for more than 11 years. Getting rid of Gadde was a signal that a new era with different decision making is beginning, for better or worse. The tweet is likely more balm for skittish advertisers wary of Musk immediately turning the platform into an anything-goes mess of harassment, hate and misinformation. While Twitter arguably already meets that description with existing levels of moderation in place, advertisers are watching for any major shifts in the kind of content allowed on the platform and how it might adversely affect their brands. Musk might think this is an original idea, but Twitter already consults a trust and safety council to advise its product and policy decisions. The council — it’s already called a council — consisted initially of 40 organizations and experts that advised it in challenging policy areas. That group served in more of an advisory capacity, and unlike with Meta’s Oversight Board, it wasn’t designed to create binding decisions. First announced in 2016, Twitter expanded the entity in 2020 to form groups dedicated to specific difficult topics, including safety and online harassment, digital rights, child sexual exploitation and suicide prevention. “A lot of what we currently do, such as ongoing meetings with NGOs, activists and other organizations is always part of our process, but we haven’t done enough to share that externally,” Twitter wrote at the time. It’s possible Musk has something more like the Oversight Board in mind when it comes to content moderation decision making, but everything from the people who wind up serving on a hypothetical council to the nature of the group’s impact is likely to be controversial.

Elon Musk fired key Twitter executives Thursday, one of his first moves as the official owner of the social media platform. According to reports from the New York Times, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and other outlets, Musk fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, general counsel Sean Edgett, and head of legal policy, trust and safety Vijaya Gadde. The deal is done, according to multiple sources, which is what gave Musk the mandate to clean house among the executive ranks. The Tesla CEO had previously criticized Gadde on the platform, and he has also tangled with Agrawal with the two exchanging messages that indicated a falling out as revealed by chat logs disclosed in discovery in the legal battle between the billionaire and the social network. This story is developing…  

Shortly after changing his bio to “Chief Twit,” Elon Musk posted a video of himself walking into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters. “Entering Twitter HQ — let that sink in!” he wrote. The video depicted him walking into the office holding a sink, referencing a years-old, stale meme, as is par for the course with him. Last week, the Washington Post reported that Musk plans to lay off 75% of Twitter’s staff if he takes over. So, it’s a bold gesture to walk in with a kitchen sink when you’re likely going to axe 5,600 jobs. Why is Musk at Twitter HQ? Per instructions from Judge Kathaleen McCormick, who is presiding over the Twitter v. Musk case, the billionaire entrepreneur has until this Friday to close his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. Musk previously had tried to back out of the deal, stating that Twitter had lied about the amount of bots on the platform. If Musk’s presence at Twitter HQ is any indication, it looks like he’s getting close to making this thing final. Musk reportedly spoke with bankers on Friday as part of the final steps before getting the cash. These banks are said to be providing $13 billion in debt financing to help with the deal. According to Bloomberg, Twitter’s head of people and chief marketing officer Leslie Berland sent a memo to staff saying that Musk will address staff directly on Friday, the deadline for the deal to close. Musk was dead set on getting out of this deal, so why the sudden change of heart? A few weeks before court proceedings were to begin, the court published a trove of Musk’s texts about the deal, uncovered through the discovery process. In the messages, his certainty about the deal waned as economic conditions worsened around the world. Another twist came when Judge McCormick approved Twitter’s request to review texts from Musk’s inner circle related to a mysterious anonymous email that Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro received on May 6. In the email, which was sent through ProtonMail, the sender identified themself only as a former Twitter executive and asked Musk’s team to follow up on a different platform. So, Musk could be going through with the deal because he’s hiding something — or, he could have just realized he was definitely not going to win at trial. Perhaps the rising stock price of Twitter helped seal the deal, too. Right now, the stock is trading at about $53 per share, the highest it has been all year. Then again, this whole deal has been a complete fiasco since the moment Musk announced his intent to buy the platform in April, so let’s not count our chickens until the SEC filing has hatched. If you work at Twitter and have inside information, or want to anonymously share your reaction to Musk’s potential takeover, DM me on Signal, an encrypted messaging app, at 929 593 0227.   

Elon Musk’s on-again off-again plan to buy Twitter is on track to culminate in the billionaire taking control of the company this week. Musk is expected to close the deal by Friday, October 28, putting him officially in charge of one of the most prominent social networks in the world. Musk reportedly informed bankers of his plans to adhere to an October 28 deadline in a call on Monday. A collection of banks including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America is footing his purchase with $13 billion in debt, which they plan to hold onto, at least in the short term. Twitter’s stock traded around $53 on Wednesday, barely shy of the $54.20 a share Musk offered for the company earlier this year. Musk’s agreement with the banks helping him finance the deal isn’t the only thing holding him to a deadline. The more pressing matter here is that the Delaware Chancery Court judge overseeing the litigation between Musk and Twitter set a deadline for this Friday if Musk intends to avoid his day in court. Failing to seal the deal by the date would mean that Delaware Chancery Court Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick could initiate a November trial. Twitter issued this statement about today’s news: We received the letter from the Musk parties which they have filed with the SEC. The intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share. — Twitter Investor Relations (@TwitterIR) October 4, 2022 Twitter sued the erratic SpaceX and Tesla CEO over the summer to force him to buy the company. The two sides traded arguments and documents in court filings in the subsequent months, while Musk doubled down on his insistence that he had the right to walk away from the deal. Musk’s legal team grasped at straws, including making some misleading and generally confusing claims about Twitter’s user number measurements, muddying the waters further. In the mean time, the legal fight surfaced a trove of private messages between Musk, his financial advisors and other close contacts who he talked to about the deal. In early October Musk did another 180, agreeing to buy the company — if he could kill the trial scheduled for October 17. After another round of back-and-forth court filings and furious letter writing, Judge McCormick agreed to hold off on the trial if Musk gathered his financing and finished the acquisition by October 28. Musk also signaled his plans to finish the deal this week, changing his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit” and his location to Twitter HQ.