Twitter’s chief lawyer — seen as the social network’s top advocate for censoring conservatives — is among the highly paid executives who stand to lose their job if Elon Musk completes his takeover of the company.
Twitter’s top lawyer and chief advocate for censoring conservatives, Vijaya Gadde, who was paid a whopping $17 million last year alone, may find herself unemployed along with many others after Tesla CEO Elon Musk takes over the social media platform.
Vijaya Gadde, who earned $17 million last year as Twitter’s top legal counsel, could be on the chopping block as Musk is reportedly planning to slash jobs and reduce executive pay as he looks to secure financing for his Twitter bid.
After disclosing plans to acquire the company earlier this month, Musk expressed “no confidence” in Twitter’s current management — which doesn’t bode well for their future once he takes the helm later this year.
Nevertheless, Gadde also stands to win a nice consolation price if she’s fired: a severance package worth $12.5 million that includes the accelerated vesting of a trove of Twitter shares she has accrued.
The 48-year-old Gadde, who reportedly broke down in tears when addressing colleagues about the future of Twitter, has become a lightning rod for controversy in recent days due in no small part to Musk himself, who tweeted a meme that painted her as oblivious to a “liberal bias” at Twitter.
The meme draws on an appearance by Gadde and her then-boss, former CEO Jack Dorsey, on Joe Rogan’s podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” in 2019.
During that appearance, conservative journalist Tim Pool confronted both Dorsey and Gadde about instances in which right-wing voices were banned from Twitter.
The Musk tweet as well as a critical tweet by journalist Saagar Enjeti, who called Gadde Twitter’s “top censorship advocate” who “censored the Hunter Biden laptop story,” prompted pro-Musk Twitter users to criticize her.
Musk also implicitly criticized Gadde by calling Twitter’s decision to block links to the New York Post’s coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop “obviously incredibly inappropriate.”
The piece was banned by major social media sites in the weeks before the election, with Twitter justifying accusations of censorship by labeling the story “content obtained through hacking that contains private information.”
Many mainstream outlets also tried to discredit the Post’s article, before later reporting on its veracity long after President Joe Biden was elected.
Musk has recently communicated “no certainty” in the senior administration at Twitter and that surely incorporates Gadde. He additionally said that the governing body would be generally terminated as he takes the organization private to protect it.
Gadde, 48, be that as it may, won’t leave with nothing using any and all means. Her severance bundle is supposed to be valued at $12.5 million, which incorporates the sped up vesting of Twitter shares she possesses, as per the New York Post.
At the point when Gadde learned about Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, she allegedly separated in tears while talking with associates about the turn of events.
The strong lawyer was torn lately by Musk, who tweeted an image that depicted her as absent to “liberal predisposition” at Twitter.
The image conveyed by Musk features an appearance that Gadde and previous CEO Jack Dorsey made on Joe Rogan’s digital recording in 2019. Both were defied by writer Tim Pool over the oversight of traditionalists on Twitter.
In response to the flood of online criticism directed at Gadde earlier this week, another top Twitter executive defended her and accused Musk of “misogyny.”
Lara Cohen, Twitter’s global head of partners, also shared messages of support for Leslie Berland, the company’s chief marketing officer who was caught in leaked audio suggesting that Musk’s plans for free speech put them in “a very difficult position.”
“Color me shocked SHOCKED that people are coming for two of our prominent female executives on day 1 of this thing,” Cohen tweeted late Tuesday.
She also shared a tweet attacking Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley for pointing out that the tearful Gadde was “the same one who led the charge to censor the Hunter Biden laptop reporting. Says it all.”
Hawley called on the world’s richest man to also now investigate the company’s old ways, including widespread suspensions of accounts as well as reports of shadowbans suppressing voices.