"Now that @ElonMusk is Twitter's largest
shareholder, it's time to lift the political censorship. Oh... and BRING BACK
TRUMP!," tweeted Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert on Monday.
Despite Twitter's reiteration this week
that the board does not make policy decisions, four Twitter employees who spoke
with Reuters said they were concerned about Musk's ability to influence the
company's policies on abusive users and harmful content.
With Musk on the board, the employees said
his views on moderation could weaken years-long efforts to make Twitter a place
of healthy discourse, and might allow trolling and mob attacks to flourish.
In the wake of Trump's ban from Facebook
and Twitter, the billionaire tweeted that many people would be unhappy with
U.S. tech companies acting "as the de facto arbiter of free speech."
MUSK'S INTENTIONS
Musk has not articulated what he wants to
do as a new board member but he has telegraphed his intentions with his Twitter
activity. A week before Musk disclosed a 9.1% stake in Twitter, he polled his
80 million followers on whether the site adhered to the principle of free
speech, and the majority voted 'no.'
The employees, who asked not to be named
for fear of retribution, point to Musk's history of using Twitter to attack
critics. In 2018, Musk came under fire for accusing a British diver who had
helped rescue children trapped in a cave in Thailand of being a pedophile.
Musk won a defamation case brought by the
diver in 2019.
When asked for comment, a Twitter
spokesperson repeated a statement from Tuesday that the board "plays an
important advisory and feedback role across the entirety of our service,"
but daily operations and decisions are made by Twitter's management and
employees.
"Twitter is committed to impartiality
in the development and enforcement of its policies and rules," the
spokesperson said.
Some employees that Reuters spoke to were
not so sure about the company's commitment to this.
"I find it hard to believe (the board)
doesn't have influence," said one employee. "If that's the case, why
would Elon want a board seat?"
But other employees Reuters spoke to said
that Musk's involvement could help quicken the pace of new feature and product
launches, and provide a fresh perspective as an active user of Twitter.
Neither Tesla nor Musk responded to
requests for comment.
Twitter's board figures prominently in
discussions within Twitter, more so than at other tech companies, one employee
said. That is because unlike Meta Platforms Inc, where founder and CEO Mark
Zuckerberg controls the company through a dual class share structure, Twitter
only has a single class of shares, making it more vulnerable to activists like
Musk. Teams within Twitter often consider how to communicate a strategy or
decision to the board, for instance, the employee said.
On Thursday, Musk tweeted an image from
2018 of him smoking weed on the Joe Rogan podcast on Spotify, with the text:
"Twitter's next board meeting is going to be lit."
TRUMP'S RETURN?
One employee familiar with the company's
operations said there were no current plans to reinstate Trump. A Twitter
spokesperson said there were no plans to reverse any policy decisions.
But a veteran auto analyst who covers
Musk's operating style at Tesla said such a decision may only be a matter of
time.
"If Donald Trump was actually rich, he
would have liked to have done the same thing but he couldn't afford it. So Elon
is doing what Trump would have liked to have done," said Guidehouse
Insights analyst Sam Abuelsamid.
"I wouldn't be surprised" if
Twitter restores Trump's account now that Elon owns nearly 10% of the
company," he said.
Longer term, employees said Musk's
involvement may change Twitter's corporate culture, which they say currently
values inclusivity. Musk has faced widespread criticism for posting memes that
mocked transgender people and efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19, and for
comparing some world leaders to Hitler.
Several employees were alarmed by the warm
welcome Musk received from Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and cofounder Jack Dorsey,
which prompted them to hit the job market this week.
"Some people are dusting off their
resumes," one person said. "I don't want to work for somebody (like
Musk)."