Elon Musk didn’t waste any time getting Twitter’s house in order upon taking over the social media giant this week, immediately firing the company’s top executives and appointing himself chief executive officer.
But that’s not the only major change he’s reportedly seeing through. A major proponent of free speech, the 51-year-old entrepreneur is also said to be getting rid of permanent bans on users, paving the way for prominent figures who’ve been given the boot to return. Notably, this would include President Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Project Veritas’s James O’Keefe, conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, among others.
In a message to advertisers posted to the site, Musk explained exactly why he bought Twitter, writing in part:
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square. Where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence. There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”
Dear Twitter Advertisers pic.twitter.com/GMwHmInPAS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022
Regardless of his noble goal with the platform, the changes Musk sees for Twitter, including the possibility of firing or replacing up to 75 percent of the social media giant’s workforce, are not sitting well with employees. Earlier this week an anonymous letter was circulating internally demanding Musk keep all the company’s workers and not discriminate based on political views.
“We demand to be treated with dignity, and to not be treated as mere pawns in a game played by billionaires,” the letter read. “A threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users’ and customers’ trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation.”