The billionaire, now owner of Twitter, will not have taken long to be noticed within the social network. Elon Musk is accused of publicly harassing executives at Twitter who would not have the same vision of freedom of expression as him. He would have notably attacked Vijaya Gadde, the lawyer of the social network.
The billionaire attacks Vijaya Gadde, the lawyer of the social network
A few days after officially buying Twitter for $44 billion, Elon Musk is already making waves. The billionaire posted a derogatory tweet aimed at Vijaya Gadde, the social network’s legal officer in charge of regulations and security. In his post, Musk mocks the platform’s content moderation rules and by Vijaya Gaddethe lawyer who is in charge of enforcing these rules.
Snapchat CEO doesn’t believe in metaverse
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2022
According to Politico, Vijaya Gadde even broke down in tears during an online meeting with his teams, gathered to discuss the change of ownership. According to the newspaper, “she expressed in detail her pride in the work of her colleagues and encouraged employees to continue their good work”. With the takeover of Twitter, Elon Musk intends promote their vision of freedom of expression. According to him, “By freedom of expression, I simply mean what corresponds to the law. I am against censorship. If people want less free speech, they will ask the government to pass laws to that effect”.
Can Elon Musk be inspired by Donald Trump’s social network?
In the United States, judges have ruled that private companies like Twitter have the right to moderate content. Florida and Texas have attempted to enact laws that would force social networks like Twitter and Facebook to reduce moderation of their content. The judges prevented these two laws from entering into force. On the other hand, free speech laws vary from country to country. In this sense, the moderation of content on Twitter, including the restriction of tweets and the banning of certain accounts, is already “according to law” on freedom of expression in the United States.
Bridget Todd, the communications director of Twitter spoke about the harassment against Vijaya Gadde. In a press release, she said that “Elon Musk’s harassment of Vijaya Gadde is clear and unmistakable proof that his governance will open the doors wide to harassment and abuse, specifically against women and people of color”. In another tweet, Elon Musk even praised the merits of Truth Social, Donald Trump’s social network, saying that this app was beating Twitter and TikTok on the App Store. According to him, “Truth Social exists because Twitter censored free speech”.