Elon Musk polarized Silicon Valley tech employees, uncovered tradition warfare

“In an effort to put Twitter on a wholesome path, we’ll undergo the tough means of lowering our world workforce on Friday,” Twitter administration mentioned in an electronic mail despatched to staff that Bloomberg reviewed. “We acknowledge that this may influence a variety of people who’ve made priceless contributions to Twitter, however this motion is sadly needed to make sure the corporate’s success going ahead.”

The mass layoffs have uncovered little aspects of a cultural divide in Silicon Valley, the place bro tradition remains to be very a lot alive. Some tech employees who venerate Musk have applauded his arrival to Twitter, whereas others have expressed disgust by the best way Musk is already altering the social media big. 

The billionaire intends to make Twitter much less of a monitored house. He spoke about bringing again banned customers, together with Donald Trump, who was deplatformed for spreading misinformation. Hate speech instantly spiked when Musk took over, in response to analysis from Montclair State College. Among the people who were fired had been accountable for monitoring content material abuse.

For a small group of Silicon Valley elite, the layoffs and Musk’s management characterize a win. “Twitter is an emblem of the tradition warfare on the ‘woke’ aspect for many individuals, and Elon being ‘anti-woke’ buying it and presumably gutting it looks like a victory for that aspect,” defined an Amazon employee on Blind, an nameless social community for tech employees.

“Twitter was on an influence journey for the higher a part of [the] final decade and had been clearly shutting down dialogue round legitimate subjects,” a Meta worker wrote on Blind. “Somebody stepped in and took the trash out. Persons are getting mad now after they had been the identical clowns screeching ‘personal firm can do something hurr durr.’”

Whereas many Blind customers famous that the memes which have cropped up depicting Musk as Thanos from the Marvel Universe had been insensitive given the actual lives and jobs concerned, a Google worker responded, “Nicely, in the event you guys weren’t targeted on censoring and deplatforming so many, folks would have extra sympathy in the direction of you.” 

One other Twitter worker themselves appeared to suggest that the corporate was overstaffed: “We’re gone as a result of trim the fats.”

The anti-Musk crowd is up in arms

For different tech employees, Musk’s takeover and the following firm reorganization is the image of one thing extra threatening. A Twitter employee wrote that it’s odd that individuals are “dancing on the grave” of one of many final large corporations that gives work-life stability and good pay, though an Amazon employee countered that their Twitter worker buddies mentioned the work tradition is extra poisonous than Amazon.

One other Amazon worker defined how Musk is the issue. “I’m not typing a prolonged rationalization on why you shouldn’t be poisonous, it’s fundamental humanity to assist one another in opposition to a much bigger foe (the billionaires),” they wrote. “Finish of put up.”

One Media.web employee vowed to by no means work for or use “the product of an organization that Elon Musk is distantly associated to. And Twitter’s former director of engineer mentioned he was relieved to be let go and escape the obvious change in tradition below Musk’s management.

“Truthfully comfortable to be laid off however the veil of @elonmusk is pierced,” Kushal Dave wrote in a tweet that has since been deleted. “As messy as Twitter was pre-Elon, it’s a veritable clowntown of politics and toadyism and psychological abuse now.” 

A number of threads on Blind are providing referrals and different tech alternatives for lately unemployed Twitter employees. And there appears to be comradery internally, as blue hearts reportedly flooded Twitters’ office messaging platform in response to the firings.

However rumblings of division persist. 

A Twitter worker informed Enterprise Insider that critics of Musk have been fired since Twitter fell into the billionaire’s arms, signifying makes an attempt to squash a revolution. The worker mentioned they’re nearly in mourning. “Up till final week, I used to be below the impression that most individuals inside the corporate felt the identical means that I did. For essentially the most half, I nonetheless am,” they mentioned. “However on Blind, it’s been nuts to me to see this small faction of newly-minted Elon acolytes abruptly stand up and attempt to make their voices heard.”

Whereas individuals are taking to Twitter to announce the brutal layoffs with the hashtag #oneteam, it appears as if the group—and Silicon Valley—is splintering into at the very least two groups: pro- and anti-Musk.

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