Technoking Elon Musk has changed things dramatically since he took over Twitter. His shift in priorities and how he looks at the Twitter universe is not the same as his predecessors, and it is making the left sick as they leave the company in droves. Some by choice, and some he fired for their poor leadership under the previous regime.
During a November 10th meeting with all employees, Musk made it clear that the acquisition of Twitter also came with an uncertain financial future and that “bankruptcy isn’t out of the question,” according to multiple reports.
He also sent a strong message about his views of remote work and how it is now over by telling people that if they can “physically make it to an office and you don’t show up, resignation accepted.”
These changes come hot on the heels of a variety of high-level executives resigning from their positions. This included Chief Privacy Officer Damien Kieran, Chief Information Security Officer Lea Kissner, and Chief Compliance Officer Marianne Fogarty. Allegedly, their resignations were in response to concerns that Musk was sacrificing users’ data security for profits.
Making allegations like this puts Twitter in an interesting position. Musk has previously stated that he is tired of seeing people being shadow banned, being exploited, and having their voices silenced for differing from the manipulating messages the left continuously spreads.
His purchase of Twitter was all about making it back into the town’s square like it was intended to be.
Yet a company lawyer posted on a Slack channel about Elon’s intents, and he does not share that same view, according to The Verge.
“Elon has shown that his only priority with Twitter users is how to monetize them. I do not believe he cares about human rights activists. The dissidents, our users in un-monetizable regions, and all the other users who have made Twitter the global town square you have all spent so long building and we all love.”
With Musk having trouble keeping investors on due to his desire to make Twitter a truly open platform for communication, many fear that it will just become a platform used exclusively by those with the most hate in their hearts and minds, the extremists.
With Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth leaving as well (no word as to how), the old guard at the top floors of Twitter are too scared to stay on.
Elon is going to have some stumbling blocks in rebuilding Twitter.
For years they have been lying to investors about how many real accounts were on the platform and how many were just robots. Not to mention the number of inactive versus active accounts. Even if someone was real, their number doesn’t count for advertising purposes if the account hasn’t been used in 5 years.
By eliminating these bots and inactive accounts, Elon is making sure advertisers are getting what they are paying for, so abandoning Twitter because you aren’t sure if the hardcore left will get the message is truly cutting off your nose to spite your face in the 21st century. These advertisers would be smart to stay, take advantage of good rates now, and be invested when things return to normal.
Given the FTC’s fine in May for failing to notify users that personal data (including private messages) would be used to push ads their way, Musk is smart to change the way advertising is done.
For the company lawyer to allege on Slack that all Musk cares about is monetizing users, he should look at the last leaders of the company. At least Musk is telling them openly that the verification checks will cost money.
With the threat to bankrupt Twitter out in the open, Musk has a lot of room to change things going forward. By listening to people from all sides, he is securing financial safety for the long haul.
