“Sorry to be a free speech absolutist,” Elon Musk tweeted in March. Seven months and $44 billion later, Elon, 51, went on a banning spree, kicking Kathy Griffin and others from Twitter for mocking him. Kathy, 62, took part in the viral trend of users changing their display names and icons –not their actual Twitter handles – to read and resemble “Elon Musk.” After Elon banned Kathy, he said she was “suspended for impersonating a comedian.” This prompted Kathy to tweet from the account belonging to her late mother, Maggie Griffin. “I mean… you stole that joke, you asshole,” tweeted Kathy through @TipItMaggieG. “People have been posting that joke for hours, you hack.”
https://twitter.com/TipItMaggieG/status/1589461255265603584
https://twitter.com/TipItMaggieG/status/1589457694825775106
“Look, please do a better job running this company. It used to mean something,” said Kathy on her mother’s account. When responding to someone asking about why Kathy got banned, the My Life on the D-List star tweeted, “I honestly think it’s because it’s me, and because the tweets I was trying to write in his voice were pro democrats and had hashtags like #VoteBlueToProtectWomen and #voteblue and pro @BetoORourke, etc.”
Kathy, Sarah Silverman, and Mad Men’s Rich Sommer were some of those whose accounts were banned after partaking in the viral “Elon”-clone meme. The widespread impersonation was done as a way to mock Musk following his first week as “Chief Twit,” what with his decision to institute an $8 monthly charge for verification status (while also firing half the company’s staff.) “Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” tweeted Musk. “Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning. This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue,” he added.
“Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark,” he said. The Daily Beast pointed out that this move seemingly contradicts what Elon tweeted on Oct. 28, with the new owners saying, “Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”
Elon also addressed the widespread layoffs on Nov. 4. “Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately, there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day. Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required,” he tweeted. The loss of revenue comes as brands have paused advertising on Twitter following Musk’s acquisition since the app saw an “immediate, visible, and measurable spike” in hate speech after Elon took over, per CBS News.
However, Twitter has reportedly asked some of the fired workers to come back, according to Bloomberg News. “Some of those who are being asked to return was laid off by mistake. Others were let go before management realized that their work and experience may be necessary to build the new features Musk envisions,” per the report.