Twitter Inc. locked down changes to its social networking platform through Friday after accepting an offer worth $44 billion from Elon Musk, according to a report from Bloomberg. The move will make it harder for Twitter employees to make “unauthorized changes.”
While the acquisition plays out, Twitter has suspended all product updates unless they are deemed “business critical.”
Product changes will require approval from a vice president, anonymous Twitter employees told Bloomberg. Twitter reportedly enacted the measures in order to prevent staff who may be upset over the acquisition from “going rogue”, one of the anonymous workers said.
Twitter has previously instituted freezes to its code ahead of key events, such as the Super Bowl, to ensure continuity on the platform and “prevent mistakes appearing.”
In addition, Disclose.tv has reported that Twitter employees added an empty public repository titled ‘the-algorithm’ on Github before the temporary suspension of updates to the platform.
JUST IN – Twitter employees apparently added a public repository called "the-algorithm" on the platform's Github account shortly before the source code was locked.
Musk said he wanted to make the Twitter algorithm open source. pic.twitter.com/cKNmwh6iuT
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) April 25, 2022
According to Talmon Smith of the New York Times, Twitter employees have been melting down over Musk’s takeover in company slack channels. “I feel like im going to throw up..I rly don’t wanna work for a company that is owned by Elon Musk,” one Twitter worker reportedly wrote.
“I don’t rly know what I’m supposed to do…oh my god, my phone’s been blowing up…We have a meeting about it at 5pm…the CEO is going to address everyone about it,” the unnamed employee continued.
2/ The source at Twitter continued “I don’t rly know what I’m supposed to do…oh my god, my phone’s been blowing up…We have a meeting about it at 5pm…the CEO is going to address everyone about it” (it=elon)
“I hate him, why does he even want this?” they asked…
— talmon joseph smith (@talmonsmith) April 25, 2022
Musk’s acquisition of Twitter concludes an unpredictable saga that kicked off after Musk briefly became the company’s largest shareholder last month.
The Tesla CEO initially planned on joining Twitter’s board, but ultimately opted not to after concluding that he wouldn’t be able to make necessary changes from that position. Musk then embarked on a crusade to buy Twitter, claiming his objective is to preserve free speech. Musk has repeatedly stated that Twitter serves as a “digital town square.”
Twitter Inc. initially signaled that they would employ a “poison pill” strategy in an effort to fend off Musk’s takeover. But much to the dismay of their left-leaning employees and board members, they regrettably agreed after it had become clear that such a move would be detrimental to its shareholders.
A staggering 99 percent of online political contributions made by Twitter employees in 2021 went to Democrats, according to Federal Election Commission data.
