Tipsheet

Elon Musk Isn’t Joining the Twitter Board After All

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced late Sunday night that billionaire entrepreneur and free speech advocate Elon Musk won't be joining the board after all. 

Last week Agrawal announced Musk, who owns a 9.1 percent stake in the social media company, would in fact come onboard. 

The move was welcomed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and endorsed by Musk. 

A number of Twitter employees panicked and revolted after hearing the news. As did many in the establishment media. 

News of Tesla (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk taking a board seat at Twitter (TWTR.N) has some Twitter employees panicking over the future of the social media firm's ability to moderate content, company insiders told Reuters.

Within hours of the surprise disclosure this week that Musk, a self-described "free speech absolutist," acquired enough shares to become the top Twitter shareholder, political conservatives began flooding social media with calls for the return of Donald Trump. 

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.

Since becoming the company's largest shareholder last week, Musk has been polling users about what they would like to see. He's also made suggestions and tweeted about his own observations about how the platform operates. 

Some are now speculating the move is so Musk can increase his shares of the company, something he couldn't do as a board member.

Given Musk's reaction, that may be the case.