Elon Musk today interacted with Twitter employees during the company's townhall. This was the Tesla chief's first interaction with the staff since he announced a $44 billion takeover bid in April.
Musk had a 10-minute freewheeling chat with the employees. He took several direct questions from the employees.
From free speech to aliens, here are 5 things Musk discussed with Twitter employees today:
Free Speech
Elon Musk, who claims to be a free speech absolutist, today told employees that people should be allowed to say anything they want on the microblogging platform, as long as it doesn't violate the law.
But he added that the company needs to balance that by making sure people “feel comfortable” with the service, otherwise they won't use it.
Potential layoffs
When asked about potential layoffs, Elon Musk didn't dismiss the idea, saying that Twitter “needs to get healthy.”
“Anyone who is a significant contributor should have nothing to worry about,” he added.
The billionaire said any layoffs would be considered on a performance basis with a performance bar. He said that the company's focus would be on generating profits and making improvements to the product.
Advertising
Musk reiterated that he's not against advertising as a model, noting that it's very important to Twitter's business, but that ads and subscriptions are both key to boosting revenue.
"I think advertising is very important for Twitter," Musk said. "I'm not against advertising. I would probably talk to the advertisers and say, like, 'hey, let's just make sure the ads are as entertaining as possible.'"
In the past, Musk has floated the idea of making Twitter advertisement-free.
Work From Home
One of the questions which was on the mind of most employees was Elon Musk's view on remote working.
Musk said that only “excellent contributors” should be allowed to work remotely or from home and that too many people were dwelling on the idea of remote work.
Aliens
During the interaction, Musk brought up the existence of aliens and other space civilizations. He said that he hasn't seen actual evidence of aliens.
