Elon Musk 15 days at the helm of Twitter – “Two weeks of chaos”

He had promised that Twitter would not turn into “hell”. To become a “public online space where diverse opinions can be expressed in a healthy way, without recourse to violence”. But Elon Musk never made a career out of his own thoughts.

The saga was supposed to end with the completion of the purchase of a majority stake in Twitter by the founder of the companies Tesla and SpaceX. Musk acquired control of Twitter on October 27 for a price of 44 billion dollars.

But 15 days later, with the eccentric billionaire at the helm of the platform.

Elon Musk’s Twitter is getting water from all sides, despite his contrary efforts to motivate employees to still work at the company and dream of an “exciting” future with it.

“Two weeks of chaos”

“The future is very exciting, I can’t wait to make it happen with you,” the new boss said yesterday at the start of an internal meeting for employees who kept their jobs after the mass layoffs he made a week ago.

But the risk of bankruptcy is looming, with Musk later admitting he didn’t know how “revenue hungry” the business is next year.

“We may have a cash flow shortfall of several billions,” he said, according to messages between employees seen by AFP.

In an internal letter the day before, he had written to them that the course will be “grueling”, and that they now have to “go into the office at least 40 hours a week”, after months of telecommuting.

Employees also asked him about the risks associated with rapidly developing new, untested features, the preferred method of the Tesla and SpaceX boss.

The reason for concern? The US competition agency (FTC) issued a rare warning against the platform yesterday: “We are following recent developments on Twitter with great concern,” Douglas Farrar, the FTC’s director of public affairs, told Reuters. “No CEO or company is above the law.” The service reminded that the platform risks significant fines if it does not comply with the rules of the agreement reached with the service on data security and confidentiality.

However, many employees who know these rules no longer work at Twitter.

Elon Musk “now exists in a world where there are no rules,” Derek Robertson notes in an article in Politico. Musk’s new company is in internal chaos and top security executives are leaving, he adds. A leaked memo from a lawyer on Twitter’s privacy team quotes Musk’s lawyer as saying, “Elon sends rockets into space, he’s not afraid of the FTC.”

Today’s lengthy New York Times op-ed sets the tone: “Two weeks of chaos,” for Musk’s takeover of the platform.

“It’s not boring”

The Tesla and SpaceX boss laid off half of the California company’s 7,500 employees a week ago, ten days after he bought it and became the sole helmsman.

Hundreds of people have already left this summer, and executive resignations have continued in recent days. Yesterday Thursday, Damien Kieran, Chief Privacy Officer, and Leah Kisner, Chief Security Officer, announced their departures.

Other executives have also decided to leave the company according to US media, including Joel Roth, Twitter’s “former head of security and integrity”. Roth has intervened several times in recent days to clarify the changes or to ensure that combating disinformation remains a “highest priority.”

Robin Wheeler, the platform’s head of customer solutions, whose departure had been reported by US media, however, tweeted on Thursday night: “I’m still here.”

Twitter is facing a class-action lawsuit from former employees who claim they were not given sufficient notice of layoffs under US federal law.

Memes (humorous images) referring to chaos and panic proliferate on the platform.

Musk constantly reiterates that content moderation, the platform’s safeguard against abuse, remains intact.

He claimed yesterday that Twitter usage “continues to grow”, adding: “One thing’s for sure: it’s not boring”.

Last Friday, US President Joe Biden said that by buying Twitter, Musk bought a social networking platform that spreads lies around the world.

Reaction: on the eve of the US midterm elections, Musk urged Americans to vote for Republican candidates for Congress.

“Circus”

Musk’s hasty decisions and challenges on Twitter have been a source of daily controversy for two weeks, causing concern among authorities, advertisers, users and minority groups.

Many advertisers suspended their funds for the highly influential social network, whose economic model depends 90% on advertising.

Insider Intelligence downgraded its forecast for Twitter’s ad revenue by 39% in 2023 and 2024.

Musk wants to diversify his sources of income.

But Wednesday’s cacophonous launch of Twitter Blue, its new $8-a-month formula for user account authentication, has resulted in controversy and an explosion of fake profiles.

“Book me all day, but it’ll cost you $8,” he used to say days ago.

Result of the new policy: Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. getting the middle finger. LeBron James to request a transfer. George Walker Bush writing “I miss killing Iraqis”. The lasting reliability of these… the $8. Users who by paying the subscription pretended to be the aforementioned. And among other things the “right” of posts like “The Holocaust was fake news”.

Many users also changed their profile to “Elon Musk” impersonating the billionaire and the latter removing accounts that mocked him in this way.

“Please note that Twitter will be doing a lot of stupid things in the coming months. We’ll keep what works and change what doesn’t,” the multi-billionaire tweeted.

Earlier in the week, he sold nearly $4 billion worth of stock in his flagship company, Tesla. “I did it to save Twitter,” he told employees yesterday.

Elon Musk wanted to buy the Californian company in the spring, then he no longer wanted it in the summer and was forced to acquire it in the fall to avoid a lawsuit, putting it heavily in debt.

“This whole Twitter circus has to stop… It’s damaging (Tesla’s) brand image,” analyst Dan Ives said yesterday.

With Liberation in an article stating: “What if we collectivized Twitter?”

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