The world’s richest man Elon Musk last night secured a blockbuster £34billion deal to buy Twitter in one of the most dramatic takeovers in corporate history, Mail reported.
However, furious Twitter employees bombarded site and internal message boards with attacks on controversial tycoon.
Complaints ranged from fears of his ‘danger to democracy’ to complaints they could be forced to stop WFH.
Jameela Jamil led the charge of celebrities announcing they would abandon Twitter after Musk’s purchase
Elon Musk’s $44billion takeover of Twitter has sparked a rebellion among liberal employees and an outbreak of hysteria among left-leaning social media personalities – amid mounting speculation over what will happen to the Silicon Valley tech giant.
The Tesla founder said he wanted to re-establish the principle of free speech on the platform and has joined criticism of its moderation policies which are accused of disproportionately targeting conservative voices, but his critics claim he will allow ‘hate to flourish’.
The deal is set to be completed in six months, with staff told their jobs are only guaranteed up to that point but ‘no layoffs are planned’ at the social media platform, which is highly influential among media circles despite having a smaller user base than Facebook.
British actress Jameela Jamil led the charge of celebrities announcing they would abandon Twitter after Musk’s purchase, declaring that she would no longer be tweeting because his ‘free speech bid’ would end in ‘lawless hate, bigotry and misogyny’.
Rob Reiner, star of 1970s sitcom All In The Family, said he feared ‘criminal’ Mr Trump would now have his account reactivated, although the former president has ruled out a return and says he will stay on his own ‘TRUTH Social’ platform.
US senator Elizabeth Warren described the deal as ‘dangerous for democracy’, tweeting: ‘Billionaires like Elon Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else, accumulating power for their own gain. We need a wealth tax and strong rules to hold Big Tech accountable.’
Human rights groups also raised concerns about the deal, with Amnesty International saying it was concerned about any potential decision that Twitter may take after Musk’s takeover to take a laxer approach to tackling hate speech.
Anthony Romero, executive director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said while he acknowledged the tycoon was a ‘card-carrying member’ of his organisation, ‘there is a lot of danger having so much power in the hands of any one individual’.
Meanwhile, employees bombarded the site and internal message boards with attacks on Musk and raised fears they would now be forced to stop working from home under the new regime.
Among those whining about the takeover was software engineer Addison Howenstine, who tweeted using asterisks to make the post harder to search for.
He wrote: ‘POV: You asked me why Eln Msk is buying 9.2% of Tw*tter and getting a board seat is bad and I’m explaining why this was clearly not his end goal and things will certainly get worse and potentially be dangerous for democracy and global affairs.’
Meanwhile, think-tank president Richard Hanania took a swipe at Musk for his lack of a college degree, tweeting: ‘He’s a billionaire who doesn’t even have a Master’s degree. Is that who we are going to trust with the future of our democracy?’
Musk’s purchase will see substantial changes, with the self-described ‘free speech absolutist’ expected to take a more permissive approach to moderation after a series of scandals including the platform’s decision to bury a story about Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop.
Twitter initially froze the New York Post’s main account after it published the story and demanded it delete tweets linking to the Biden articles. It initially justified the ban by citing a prohibition of distributing hacked material, before backing down when the story was proven to be legitimate.
Musk has also suggested Twitter – which will now move off the New York Stock Exchange – could move towards a subscription-based model and a shift away from advertising which currently generates 90% of its overall revenue.
