The meltdown over Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter has made its rounds throughout the site itself, cable news, the federal government, and even at Twitter headquarters. Vijaya Gadde, who serves as a lawyer at Twitter, reportedly cried during a recent company leadership meeting.
Gadde was a driving force behind the removal of then President Donald Trump from the app. According to a report by Politico, Gadde became emotional while talking about “her team’s impact and the pride she feels in them”.
If the name Vijaya Gadde sounds familiar, it is because she famously appeared on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience in 2019 alongside then Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. After backlash over the first episode, which was namely directed at Rogan’s unwillingness to challenge Gadde and Dorsey, the pair later appeared on another episode with journalist Tim Pool.
The main theme of the Pool installation was bias and censorship at Twitter, which has only accelerated since the airing of that particular episode.
Pool insisted that Twitter’s TOS moderation was unevenly enforced against right-wing users. At the beginning of the clip, Gadde says the quiet part out loud with respect to the debate on misgendering and transgenderism. Gadde went into detail about how rules on “hateful speech” are carefully crafted after consulting “experts”. On the topic of transgenderism, this includes the American Association of Pediatrics and the Human Rights Council.
Twitter, as well as other influential companies and organizations based in progressive-leaning areas such as Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. largely ascribe to the same political worldview. This can be easily seen when looking at campaign contributions from the 2020 election. According to a study reported by the Washington Times, Twitter has contributed a whopping 98.99 percent ($347,270) of its donations to Democrats via individual donations of $200 or more.
It is uncertain what will change with the site once Musk fully assumes his place as the new owner of Twitter. Since he stepped down, Dorsey has seemed to embrace the idea of free speech online, which shows that he may never had the final say while acting as CEO. In a 2020 Politico report, a source questioned also mentioned that Dorsey would always defer to Twitter’s top lawyer, which is Gadde. “I can’t imagine a world where Jack looks at her and says, ‘No.’”
What Twitter’s top lawyer and other company brass seem to be most concerned with is the prospect of Musk ignoring the will of “experts” and rule the company as a true executive, which would likely call their positions into question.
