elon musk
Bulletins

Here's everything Musk said at the Twitter town hall

Musk didn't say whether he was still committed to buying Twitter.

Elon Musk speaks to host Chris Anderson at SESSION 11 at TED2022: A New Era on April 14, 2022, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED

Musk didn't talk about whether he would still buy Twitter, but he did talk about aliens.

Photo: Ryan Lash/TED

Elon Musk met with Twitter employees Thursday, and it went exactly how you'd think it would go.

Musk talked about some of the things on employees' minds, like content moderation, the possibility of layoffs and whether remote work will remain in place if and when the company is purchased. Musk, who arrived 10 minutes late to the meeting, addressed some of those questions and talked about his vision for Twitter. He also talked about aliens.

The meeting was the first time Musk addressed Twitter employees directly since announcing his $44 billion bid to buy the company, and he said he'd be happy to meet with employees again.

Axios, Bloomberg and The New York Times broke down some highlights from the meeting. Here's what Musk said:

    • On the deal: Musk wasn't asked, and didn't say, whether he was still committed to buying Twitter.
    • On remote work: Musk said really good employees can work remotely, but he’s not a fan of it overall. He wants Tesla workers back in the office full-time.
    • On layoffs: He said Twitter should consider layoffs on a performance basis: "Right now, costs exceed revenue. That’s not a great situation." Layoffs are happening at Tesla right now.
    • On content moderation: "We should allow people to say what they want."
    • On what he wants Twitter to be: Musk really likes WeChat and TikTok. "You basically live on WeChat in China."
    • On spam bots: According to Musk, they're his biggest enemy. Musk said he accidentally fell victim to a scam one time.
    • On growing Twitter: Musk wants to reach 1 billion users or more in the next five to 10 years.
    • On being CEO: He's not too concerned about being the head of Twitter.
    • On aliens: "I have seen no actual evidence for aliens."
     Sarah Roach

    Sarah (Sarahroach_) writes for Source Code at Protocol. She's based in Boston and can be reached at sroach@protocol.com

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