US President Joe Biden has expressed concern about the plans of Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter. He made it public during a benefit on Friday evening in the US state of Chicago.
Biden warned well-wishers about the impact next week’s midterm elections in the United States will have on society and, subsequently, on Musk in the coming years. ‘What do we all care about? Elon Musk buys a media that spreads lies around the world. No more publishers. How do we expect children to know what’s at stake?’
Musk bills himself as a champion of free speech and wants to fundamentally reform the way content is monitored on Twitter. The Tesla billionaire bought the social media network for $44 billion and promptly fired the company’s entire executive. On Friday, he laid off half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees.
He had no choice, Musk says. “The company is losing over $4 million a day,” he tweeted. In addition, all of the fired employees received three months’ pay, which is half what the Twitter boss says is required by law.
Advertisers and employees flock
Several advertisers, including drugmaker Pfizer, car group Volkswagen and food company General Mills, have announced they will temporarily stop advertising until it becomes clear how Musk wants to reform Twitter. On Saturday morning, American airline United Airlines joined.
Companies are worried about the pending relaxation of rules, which could lead to their ads being surrounded by hateful messages. Advertisers are central to Twitter’s revenue model. According to Musk, “Corporations are trying to destroy free speech in America.”
Many of the company’s employees have been posting about their final days in recent days. Shannon Raj Singh also said that he and the entire human rights department are on the streets. “I am proud of the work we have done to ensure the continued application of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,” he wrote.
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