Elon Musk fires Twitter executives
New Twitter owner Elon Musk, don’t let it grow. The multi-billionaire, according to some the richest man in the world and who now calls himself the Chief Twit, immediately set to work to shape his latest investment.
“The bird is free”
Under the motto “The bird is freed” Musk wants more room for freedom of expression and wants the current moderation policy, which critics say is rather liberal on the left, is strict and has a high “woke” content, more spacious and libertarian. Absolute freedom of expression will be tricky, as Twitter is bound by the laws of the countries in which it operates.
For example, the European Commission has already indicated that the European rules regarding social media will remain valid. But Musk has shown that he does want to stretch the boundaries when it comes to freedom of expression.
Top managers get their congé
It is clear that Twitter’s current top executives, CEO Parag Agrawal and head of moderation policy Vijaya Gadde, do not fit his plans. They were escorted from their offices accompanied by security personnel.
They have done their best to thwart Musk’s takeover attempt. In doing so, they have not made themselves popular with the flamboyant entrepreneur, who is known for his irascible personality. They also have completely different ideas about the future of Twitter than Musk.
It was therefore clear that their career at Twitter would not last too long. But they can forget a “golden parachute”. Musk wants revenge on the two, and is therefore now doing everything he can to prevent them from getting a golden handshake worth around $70 million each. In this he pleads malpractice. Whether this will hold up in court is of course the question, but it is clear that they do not part as friends.
Celebrity Exodus
Various progressive leaders, also in the Netherlands, have already indicated that they want to leave Twitter and switch to the Mastodon platform. Mastodon is much smaller than Twitter, at about one percent of the user base. So far, only about 0.2% of all Twitter users seem to have left the platform.
