Musk tells staff Twitter should allow ‘pretty outrageous’ posts

SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk discussed his stance on what types of content should be allowed on Twitter’s social network, saying that people should be allowed to say “pretty outrageous things” but that the platform doesn’t have to give those posts reach.

Musk elaborated on his beliefs Thursday during an all-hands meeting at Twitter, the first time the billionaire has addressed employees since agreeing to buy the company for $44 billion in late April.

Twitter needs to allow more space for people to say whatever they want, Musk said, as long as it doesn’t violate the law. But he added that the company needs to balance that by making sure people “feel comfortable” on the service, otherwise they won’t use it, according to people familiar with the discussion.

Employees who attended the meeting said Musk also talked about possible product changes, including the idea that users should have to pay to be verified as a real human user, through a tool like subscription service Twitter Blue.

He also proposed that Twitter use verification as a way of ranking content on the platform.

When asked about potential layoffs, Musk didn’t dismiss the idea, saying that Twitter “needs to get healthy”.

“Anyone who is a significant contributor should have nothing to worry about,” he added.

Musk was also asked multiple questions about employees working from home, which Twitter started allowing fulltime more than two years ago.

At Thursday’s meeting, Musk said that the priority would be for people to work together in person, but if someone is “exceptional at their job” then it’s possible for those people to continue working remotely.

Musk has created concern over recent weeks that he was no longer interested in acquiring Twitter.