Twitter officials criticized social media giant Elon Musk’s takeover of an emergency meeting of the company, telling executives that “PR talk is not coming.”
CEO Parag Agraval held a company-wide mayor’s office on Friday, heard by Reuters, where concerned officials wondered if their jobs would be safe after the Tesla developer took control.
Reports of concern at the Silicon Valley firm have swelled since Mr Musk struck a deal to buy the company back on Monday.
The world’s richest man has agreed to buy Twitter for $ 44 billion – $ 54.20 in cash per share – by taking the company privately into a shocking deal that has divided opinion around the world.
Hundreds of thousands of users have already left the platform in protest as questions arise as to whether Mr Musk will allow banned people – such as Donald Trump – online again.
Mr Musk has fueled speculation that the banned accounts could be returned to his statement after the deal was announced.
“Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital city square where issues vital to the future of humanity are discussed,” he said.
A Wall Street Journal report has since revealed that a close associate of Mr Musk’s has already told far-right activist Charles Johnson that he could get his account back when the Tesla boss takes the helm.
Mr Johnson was banned from Twitter in 2015 after raising funds on the site to “pull out” a Black Lives Matter activist.
Asked when he could expect to return to Twitter, he said, “I hope soon.”
In the days since the sale was announced, Mr Musk has also targeted Twitter’s top executives on the platform, including sparking a wave of criticism of Vijaya Gade’s chief lawyer.
At a meeting on Friday, angry staff members spoke out against the sale and demanded answers from the company on how it would react to the expected mass departure of staff, Reuters reported.
Mr Agraval tried to reassure officials that there had been no major evictions since the announcement, but that the company would monitor the situation.
Another official expressed concerns about job security after reports that Mr Musk was already considering job cuts and salaries for executives and board members.
“I’m tired of hearing about shareholder value and fiduciary debt. What are your honest thoughts about the very high probability that many employees will not have a job after the transaction is completed? The clerk asked.
The CEO replied that Twitter has always taken care of its employees and that he believes that the company will “continue to take care of its impact on the world and its customers” in the future.
Despite attempts to quell employees’ concerns, an employee told Reuters that the workforce did not believe in the message imposed by managers.
“The PR talk is not coming,” they said.
“We’ve been told not to run out and do work you’re proud of, but there’s no clear incentive for employees to do that.”
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