Musk to address Twitter employees in Q&A

Elon Musk will address questions from Twitter employees after his appointment to the social media company’s board led to some internal criticism and concerns from company staff. 

A Twitter spokesperson confirmed Friday that Musk will join Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal for an “AMA,” or ask me anything, session for Twitter employees “soon.” The spokesperson would not comment further. 

The question-and-answer session was first reported by The Washington Post, citing an email Agrawal sent staff on Thursday.

“We say that Twitter is what’s happening and what people are talking about right now. Often, we [at] Twitter are what’s happening and what people are talking about. That has certainly been the case this week,” Agrawal wrote, according to the Post. “Following our board announcement, many of you have had different types of questions about Elon Musk, and I want to welcome you to ask those questions to him.”

Twitter announced Tuesday that Musk would be appointed to its board of directors, following his acquisition of a 9.2 percent stake in the company. 

Musk had suggested, before the announcement that he would join Twitter’s board, that Twitter take a more hands-off approach to moderating speech on the platform. 

A Twitter spokesperson previously told The Hill in a statement that its policy decisions are “not determined by the Board or shareholders” and the company has “no plans to reverse any policy decisions.” 

Nonetheless, the announcement has stirred a debate among some progressive activists, along with some Twitter employees, raising concerns about Musk’s appointment. Critics have even used Twitter itself as a place to express their concerns.

Others have also pointed to allegations of racism at Musk’s electric car company Tesla as a reason to raise alarm over his position on the Twitter board.

Conservatives have cheered the announcement and seem hopeful it could usher in an era of less content moderation on Twitter — a move they have long been pushing for based on accusations that the platform has an anti-conservative bias. 

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a former tech entrepreneur, dismissed employee concerns in a tweet Thursday. 

“I hear Twitter employees are panicking about Elon Musk. What are they afraid of? Might get harder to censor and silence conservatives?” he tweeted.