TOPLINE
Billionaire Elon Musk—the owner of X, previously known as Twitter—made a broad offer in a tweet late Saturday night, saying the platform will fund legal fees for people who “were unfairly treated” by their employers because of something they posted or liked on X.
KEY FACTS
Musk added in the tweet that there was “no limit” to the amount of fees X would cover and said in a following tweet that X “won’t just sue, it will be extremely loud and we will go after the boards of directors of the companies too.”
Musk has responded to a number of replies to his initial offering, including one from right-wing account “Libs of TikTok” that claimed someone was fired for following its account and another that said former President Donald Trump was “unfairly treated” by the government for his Twitter usage, to which Musk said “such aggressive legal action against a former president is not right.”
There were no details provided on how Musk defined “unfairly treated” or how people should contact the former executive, and some have pointed out the offer could apply to Twitter employees who were fired shortly after Musk’s takeover.
It’s unclear what prompted Musk to make the offer, but it came shortly after a NASCAR driver was suspended for allegedly liking a meme on Instagram mocking George Floyd.
KEY BACKGROUND
Musk, who first arrived at Twitter after buying the platform in October 2022, immediately made headlines for firing thousands in cost saving measures and for firing people who were openly critical of him. One employee was publicly mocked by Musk after he tweeted about being cut off from access to his work computer, leading Musk to eventually apologize to the employee and tweet that he’s “considering remaining at Twitter.” Since Musk’s takeover—and rebranding—of X, the platform has undergone a number of changes and struggles. Musk has maintained a focus on freedom of speech and fighting what he calls the “woke mind virus,” leading him to loosen X’s moderation policies and reinstate formerly banned accounts. Advertisers weren’t happy about the policy change, though, and Musk saw many back out of deals with the platform in response. One U.K.-based nonprofit penned a report last year finding X rarely removed hateful content posted by subscribers to the site’s paid Twitter Blue service, leading the social media company to sue the group last week.
Forbes Daily: Get our best stories, exclusive reporting and essential analysis of the day’s news in your inbox every weekday.Sign Up
By signing up, you accept and agree to our Terms of Service (including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions), and Privacy Statement.
TANGENT
In another late-night tweet from the weekend, Musk announced his much-anticipated UFC-style fight with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be livestreamed on X and “all proceeds will go to charity for veterans.” Musk and Zuckerberg have been teasing a fight since June, shortly before Meta released its Twitter-competitor, Threads.
FORBES VALUATION
Forbes estimates Musk to be worth $232.5 billion, making him the richest person in the world as of August 6.
FURTHER READING
NYTIMESElon Musk Fires Twitter Employees Who Criticized HimMORE FROM FORBESElon Musk Says Fight With Zuckerberg Will Be Live-Streamed On X For CharityBy Mary Whitfill Roeloffs