Elon Musk has his own way of getting to know his future colleagues. The billionaire, who has just made a deal to buy Twitter, has publicly mocked several company executives, sparking anger as many employees already seem worried about being led by the Tesla boss. .
After supporting a derogatory tweet about Vijaya Gadde, the social network’s lawyer in charge of regulations and security, the businessman also split a meme (parody image) on Wednesday to mock the rules of the platform for content moderation and who is responsible.
The initial tweet about him referred to Twitter’s decision to block the sharing of an article from the New York Post, a conservative American daily, during the presidential campaign because it violated its rules. The case had angered elected Republicans and the platform had relaxed the sanction.
According to the Politico news site (link in English)Vijaya Gadde broke down in tears during an online meeting with his teams, gathered to discuss the change of ownership. “She expressed in detail her pride in the work of her colleagues and encouraged employees to continue their good work”says the article.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2022
“Harassment is not management”
“Harassment is not management”responded Dick Costolo, who ran Twitter from 2010 to 2015. “Creating memes targeting executives like Vijaya Gadde, who has a long career of finding the right balance between safety and freedom of expression (…), is completely unacceptable”was indignant Alex Stamos, of the prestigious Stanford University, and former head of security at Facebook.
“Elon Musk’s harassment of Vijaya Gadde is clear and unmistakable proof that his governance will open the doors wide to harassment and abuse, specifically against women and people of color.”said Bridget Todd, director of communications, in a press release.
Elon Musk decided to acquire Twitter in particular because he believes that the network does not sufficiently respect freedom of expression. But his absolutist vision worries defenders of everyone’s freedoms on the internet, who advocate exchanges without hatred or misinformation.