Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter

by Kate Conger

The backlash was immediate and furious. Republican lawmakers and Trump campaign officials accused Twitter of censorship, and even some Democrats questioned whether Twitter, by cracking down on a mainstream media outlet, had overstepped. Even Dorsey objected. “Our communication around our actions on the @nypost article was not great,” he wrote. “And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why we’re blocking: unacceptable.” His statement seemed confusing. Who was Dorsey criticizing? Internally, however, employees knew where the message was being directed. While Dorsey had been a proponent of empowering the executives he put into positions of power to make their own decisions, he was now effectively admonishing Gadde. She took his tweet personally, particularly because he was more direct and harsh in what he said publicly than the criticism he shared in private, she told people close to her. On October 16, Twitter decided to limit the hacked materials rule only to prevent hackers themselves from sharing information they stole, and to add contextual labels to other tweets about the Biden emails, warning viewers that they came from an unknown source. The Post would once again be able to share its links, but the controversy continued for weeks.

Dorsey is a loser