Elon Musk could have already damaged a key provision of the deal he made with Twitter. One day after Twitter disclosed the phrases of its take care of Musk, the Tesla CEO is already elevating questions on his willingness to stick to a non-disparagement clause.
According to an SEC submitting shared by twitter on Tuesday, Musk is “permitted to issue Tweets about the Merger or the transactions contemplated hereby so long as such Tweets do not disparage the Company or any of its Representatives.” In different phrases, Musk can tweet concerning the deal all he needs, however he can’t denigrate Twitter or its workers.
But as soon as once more Musk appears unwilling to reasonable himself, and has finished so on the expense of a prime Twitter government.
On Tuesday night time, Musk replied to a tweet about an earlier Politico story that reported Twitter’s prime coverage exec, Vijaya Gadde, had cried throughout a gathering with employees discussing Musk’s buyout. The unique tweet additionally famous Gadde’s function in Twitter’s dealing with of the Hunter Biden laptop computer story in 2020. (The firm rapidly reversed course after initially attempting to restrict the story, citing its coverage on hacked supplies.)
“Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate,” Musk responded. On Wednesday, Musk focused Gadde once more, tweeting a meme based mostly on her look on a 2019 episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast.
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The tweets, which have prompted a wave of harassment directed at Gadde, have prompted two former Twitter CEOs to return to her protection. Twitter co-founder and former CEO EV Williams wrote that Gadde is “one of the most thoughtful, principled people I know.”
Former CEO Dick Costolo was extra pointed. “You’re making an executive at the company you just bought the target of harassment and threats,” he mentioned. “Bullying is not leadership,” he wrote in a separate tweet. “I’m just saying Twitter needs to be politically neutral,” Musk responded.
Notably, neither Jack Dorsey — who lately enthusiastically endorsed Musk’s takeover —or present CEO Parag Agrawal has commented immediately. Agrawl tweeted Wednesday that he was “proud of our people who continue to do the work with focus and urgency despite the noise.”
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Twitter didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Regardless, this type of “noise” from Musk is just not prone to sit properly with Twitter workers, lots of whom are already apprehensive concerning the path Musk will take the platform.
Musk has claimed that he needs Twitter to be “politically impartial,” which in his estimation “successfully means upsetting the far proper and the far left equally.” Early studies modifications in follower counts for high-profile accounts counsel that far-right politicians are seeing a pointy uptick in followers.