The five pettiest things Elon has done since taking over Twitter
It’s been a wild two weeks. Good thing he’s not in charge of making electric cars and sending people into sp– ah, right, yeah. He is.
Society
Words: Rhys Thomas
Elon Musk has been a pretty prolific Twitter user since June 2009. But if the last couple of weeks have taught us anything, it’s that it doesn’t make him a good fit to actually own the company.
Initially, he fired half the platform’s workforce, before realising Twitter couldn’t operate without them. Managers had to reportedly ask people to come back. Many others resigned and now the word “bankruptcy” is floating about the place. So, yes, erm, good job.
But Musk’s reign over Twitter hasn’t only caused job losses for its workforce, stress for all involved and general annoyance for those who use Twitter. Musk is also being petty as hell. Take a look…
Blocked people who are trying to help him
We don’t mean blocking that @43483920 black-and-white egg boi who tweets “bring back the downvote button”. Brand managers have had IRL conversations with Musk, attempting to guide him on how to keep advertisers on board. We’re talking about people like Lou Paskalis, a senior and acclaimed brand manager, who is probably worth listening to. He pointed out a few lapses of judgement in what Musk was tweeting and, instead of engaging like a good and rational CEO, the bad boi of Twitter blocked him instead.
Suspended people who obey the rules, but still mock Musk himself
This has manifested in a few ways. There was his blocking of comedian Kathy Griffin. Then an account clearly marked as parody was suspended, probably for the (admittedly distasteful, but definitely funny) stunt of pretending to be Elon Musk and tweeting in favour of freeing the convicted sex offender, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Sure, that would be annoying for him, his reputation and his stock value if people believed it. But he’d also previously stated that parody accounts were fine as long as they clearly stated they were fictitious. One rule for him, another rule for “haters”, right?
Constantly tweeted that Twitter usage is at “an all time high”
Repetition is important for verbal fluency and confidence. Plus, if you want someone to remember something, you should tell them again and again and again and again. Like Musk, who keeps tweeting when Twitter “hits an all time high” in usage. We get it, mate. Everyone’s still using the app because it’s delicious to watch the first start to a new job since Liz Truss. It’s delicious to watch the first start to a new job since Liz Truss. It’s delicious to watch the first start to a new job since Liz Truss. It’s delicious to watch the first start to a new job since Liz Tru– alright, that’s enough.
Free speech patrol, but only on Musk’s terms
If something happens systematically, legally, or otherwise-lly that Musk doesn’t like, it seems to be an attack on free speech. A drop in revenue on the site? Obviously activists are trying to take down the constitutional right to freedom of speech! Or maybe advertisers are concerned about running commercials on a site that just fired thousands of content moderators…
Needing to make a case for being a good person while firing people
And finally, just as there’s no such thing as a good landlord, there’s rarely such a thing as a compassionate boss of a huge company. But that won’t stop Musk from trying to plead his case: he had to do it because revenue is down, and actually, he’s really nice because he gave the fired staff three months severance to live on. Really nice, Elon. Really nice.
