Elon Musk’s appointment to Twitter’s board of directors was met with skepticism by one of the company’s managers.
According to LinkedIn, Rumman Chowdhury, Twitter’s director of ML Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability, expressed her gratitude to the world’s richest man for declining to join the social media company’s board of directors in a series of tweets.
Musk is well-known for his frequent use of Twitter, where he makes jokes and digs at other businesses and public personalities. The Tesla CEO has one of the most popular accounts on the web, with over 81 million followers.
“This is going to sound funny but Musk’s immediate chilling effect was something that bothered me significantly,” according to Chowdhury on Twitter. “Twitter has a beautiful culture of hilarious constructive criticism, and I saw that go silent because of his minions attacking employees.”
This is going to sound funny but Musks immediate chilling effect was something that bothered me significantly. Twitter has a beautiful culture of hilarious constructive criticism, and I saw that go silent because of his minions attacking employees.
— ruchowdh@mastodon.social (@ruchowdh) April 11, 2022
Insider reached out to Twitter and Musk for comment, but neither company immediately responded. A request for more information from Chowdhury was likewise ignored.
Musk reversed his decision the same morning he was supposed to officially join the board of directors, according to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who announced it on Sunday night.
Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder and was invited to join the board of directors last week, according to reports. In his tweet, Agrawal said the board had held “many discussion about Elon joining the board,” and had decided the role would would require Musk “to act in the best interests of the company and all our shareholders,” was “the best path forward.”
Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here. pic.twitter.com/lfrXACavvk
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 11, 2022
Musk did not elaborate on why he turned down the offer. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, on the other hand, tweeted about Twitter over the weekend in a series of tweets that have since been deleted, suggesting that the firm change its name, transform its headquarters into a homeless shelter, and ban advertisements. “Is Twitter dying?” Musk even asked his followers.
Musk’s decision might open the door for the billionaire to buy the firm, according to Insider’s Isobel Asher Hamilton, because the Tesla CEO would no longer be constrained by an agreement he signed to join the board that said he couldn’t buy more than 14.9 percent of Twitter’s stock.
Twitter’s stock jumped after word got out about Musk’s investment in the firm and his decision to join the board of directors. People who had worked with Musk speculated on how his presence at the social media business may alter the company’s course.
The stock of Twitter has fallen by more than 8% after Musk’s departure from the board of directors was announced, but it is still higher than it was before Musk’s shareholding was exposed.