Musk criticises Twitter's censorship lawyer after taking over microblogging site

Washington: Tesla CEO Elon Musk's criticism of a content decision made by the social networking platform legal team was followed by a wave of abusive tweets directed against the company's "top censorship advocate" Vijaya Gadde, who is upset after the takeover of the social media platform. In response, Musk tweeted ''The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all.''

Musk has clinched a deal to buy the company for USD 44 billion. Twitter on Monday confirmed the sale of the company to the billionaire. On Tuesday, Musk faulted a decision the company made in 2020 to block a New York Post story about Hunter Biden. He called the move "incredibly inappropriate." While he didn't identify Gadde by name, Saagar Enjeti, the post was in response to an article in which she was mentioned prominently.

Musk was responding to a tweet from Saagar Enjeti, host of a political podcast, who in turn was referencing a report by Politico that Gadde broke down in tears at a meeting with her staff this week. "Vijaya Gadde, the top censorship advocate at Twitter who famously gaslit the world on Joe Rogan's podcast and censored the Hunter Biden laptop story, is very upset about the @elonmusk takeover," Enjeti tweeted on April 26.

Musk replied, "Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate." The Post story referenced by Enjeti had alleged that Biden, son of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden, had improper connections to an executive at a Ukrainian energy firm.

Social media went wild after new Twitter owner tweeted Tuesday that censorship of the New York Post's Hunter Biden story was "obviously incredibly inappropriate." The Tesla CEO was referring to Twitter suspending The New York Post just ahead of the 2020 election for publishing a story about the existence Hunter Biden's laptop. The laptop contained emails, text messages, photos and financial documents indicating foreign business dealings the first son and the Biden family were involved with, according to Fox News.

Musk's remark was followed by several negative comments from Twitter users. Musk is known for throwing ideas, sometimes light-hearted, on his Twitter timeline. His tweets often spark debates on various issues, including free speech that polarises the twitteratis.

CNN reported that the deal caps off a whirlwind news cycle in which the Tesla and SpaceX CEO became one of Twitter's largest shareholders, was offered and turned down a seat on its board and bid to buy the company -- all in less than a month. "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk had said in a statement.

"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential - I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it," he added further.

Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022