The billionaire’s offer to fund legal bills has raised eyebrows amongst those who were fired from Twitter following his takeover.
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has offered to pay the legal fees for people who were “unfairly treated” by their employer due to their activities on the platform.
“If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill,” he posted to his 151.9 million followers. He added there was “no limit” to the amount he would fund.
Many of the replies to Musk’s tweet were from parody or impersonation accounts with verified blue ticks, which can now be bought for around $8 (€7.29) a month.
When he was in the process of buying the social media platform, Musk described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” leading to fears amongst some activists that the platform may become more open to hate speech.
Many accounts that were permanently banned or suspended under the previous ownership of Twitter were restored, including that of former US president Donald Trump who was kicked off the platform for tweets deemed to be at risk of inciting violence related to the January 6 attack at the Capitol in Washington DC.
Musk’s offer was met with a number of requests for help for former Twitter employees who were unceremoniously fired after he took over the company – which some pointed out at the time was at odds with his “free speech absolutist” stance.
Source: Euronews
