3 ms·

Despite praising free speech, Elon Musk fires Twitter staff who criticize him

12 points by seanhunter 4y ago

seanhunter 4y ago
The original headline is “Despite praising free speech, Elon Musk fires Twitter engineers who criticize him online” but I had to trim it to fit the character limit. Hopefully the loss of the word “online” and changing “engineers” to “staff” doesn’t change the meaning too severely.
helsinkiandrew 4y ago
Are there many CEO's who wouldn't do this? Ideally a CEO will create an environment where constructive criticism is allowed and encouraged internally (but not continuous whining), which I'm guessing Musk isn't good at. However, criticism of previous employers in interviews is usually a red flag, but doing so in public to your existing one, however strongly you feel and ridiculous the statement of the CEO does seem to cross a line.
- beardyw 4y ago
  In Europe you couldn't do this (without enriching the person you intended to punish). Employment is about doing a job, not sycophancy.
  - helsinkiandrew 4y ago
    Criticising the CEO or company in public would get you a final written warning at least. I've seen people legally sacked for making derogatory public statements about partner companies.
    - AlotOfReading 4y ago
      Did I miss the part where Eric criticized Elon or Twitter? In the exchange I saw he simply said that the public statement was incorrect, provided some technical opinions, and stated that the original post should have been discussed privately first. None of those verge into criticism for me, even if we can certainly agree that the whole thing wasn't the wisest possible exchange from a job-preservation perspective. I suspect preserving his job wasn't Eric's highest priority though.
- licebmi__at__ 4y ago
  It's understandable, but most other ceos don't go around LARPing as free speech absolutists or complaining about cancel culture.
- torben-friis 4y ago
  A work contract is nothing more than a recurring business transaction, not an oath of allegiance. If the legal system didn’t depend on your personal budget, it should be grounds for a defamation lawsuit - musk has been putting in doubt the professionalism of their workforce using factually wrong data after all.
- mrtksn 4y ago
  It's definitely not OK to trash the people you work with but this cuts both ways. These engineers correcting Musk don't do it spontaneously, they are responding to Musk's words that put them in bad light. What do you do if the person who purchases the company you work starts publicly trashing the work you do? Wouldn't be just as serious career problem to be the engineer who build the sh*t that Musk complains about?

12 points by seanhunter 4y ago

The original headline is “Despite praising free speech, Elon Musk fires Twitter engineers who criticize him online” but I had to trim it to fit the character limit. Hopefully the loss of the word “online” and changing “engineers” to “staff” doesn’t change the meaning too severely.

helsinkiandrew 4y ago

Are there many CEO's who wouldn't do this? Ideally a CEO will create an environment where constructive criticism is allowed and encouraged internally (but not continuous whining), which I'm guessing Musk isn't good at. However, criticism of previous employers in interviews is usually a red flag, but doing so in public to your existing one, however strongly you feel and ridiculous the statement of the CEO does seem to cross a line.

beardyw 4y ago
In Europe you couldn't do this (without enriching the person you intended to punish). Employment is about doing a job, not sycophancy.
- helsinkiandrew 4y ago
  Criticising the CEO or company in public would get you a final written warning at least. I've seen people legally sacked for making derogatory public statements about partner companies.
  - AlotOfReading 4y ago
    Did I miss the part where Eric criticized Elon or Twitter? In the exchange I saw he simply said that the public statement was incorrect, provided some technical opinions, and stated that the original post should have been discussed privately first. None of those verge into criticism for me, even if we can certainly agree that the whole thing wasn't the wisest possible exchange from a job-preservation perspective. I suspect preserving his job wasn't Eric's highest priority though.
licebmi__at__ 4y ago
It's understandable, but most other ceos don't go around LARPing as free speech absolutists or complaining about cancel culture.
torben-friis 4y ago
A work contract is nothing more than a recurring business transaction, not an oath of allegiance. If the legal system didn’t depend on your personal budget, it should be grounds for a defamation lawsuit - musk has been putting in doubt the professionalism of their workforce using factually wrong data after all.
mrtksn 4y ago
It's definitely not OK to trash the people you work with but this cuts both ways. These engineers correcting Musk don't do it spontaneously, they are responding to Musk's words that put them in bad light. What do you do if the person who purchases the company you work starts publicly trashing the work you do? Wouldn't be just as serious career problem to be the engineer who build the sh*t that Musk complains about?