--- title: "Free Speech Fundamentalist Elon Musk Mass Fired Staff for Saying Mean Things About Him" description: "Not So Absolute It would appear that billionaire Elon Musk's self-avowed free speech \"absolutism\" has its limits — and according to Bloomberg, saying mean things about Musk is one of those non-absolute ceilings. Convenient! Walter Isaacson's new biography about the founder, \"Elon Musk,\" unsurprisingly includes several anecdotes from Musk's takeover of the social media company […]" date: "2023-09-16" modified: "2023-09-16" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/free-speech-elon-musk-fired-staff-mean" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "billionaires" - "elon musk" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # Free Speech Fundamentalist Elon Musk Mass Fired Staff for Saying Mean Things About Him ![According to Walter Isaacson's new biography, Elon Musk mass-fired Twitter employees who were caught saying mean things about him on Slack.]() *\Image: Nathan Howard via Getty / Futurism\* ## Not So Absolute It would appear that billionaire Elon Musk's self-avowed free speech "[absolutism]()" has its limits — and [according to *Bloomberg*](), saying mean things about Musk is one of those non-absolute ceilings. Convenient! Serial biographer Walter Isaacson's new book about the founder, "[Elon Musk]()," unsurprisingly includes [several anecdotes]() about Musk's takeover of the social media company formerly known as Twitter (it's since been rebranded to just "X," for some reason.) Per *Bloomberg*, one such Isaacson-penned vignette from Musk's purchase of the platform explains that during the mass layoffs that took place at the beginning of Musk's Twitter tenure, the billionaire had a team take a fine-tooth comb to the platform's Slack, using keywords like "Elon" to find and log any less-than-favorable remarks. Any employees found making "snarky comments" about Musk, as Isaacson apparently put it, were added to a list, and everyone on that list was fired. In the SpaceX and Tesla CEO's world, "unfettered free speech," as Isaacson wrote, "does not extend to the workplace." ## Cherry Picking As *Bloomberg* points out, free speech laws don't *technically* extend to the workplace. Musk also famously retains a [certain degree of paranoia](), so it's not terribly surprising to see the world's richest man fire naysayers for the sake of [perceived loyalty](). Regardless of whether firing employees for making fun of their boss is technically legal, though, it's still wildly uncool, and certainly seems to speak to Musk's long record of really, really [needing people to like him](). And still, considering the billionaire's eternal quest to prove his loyalty to the cause of inhibited First Amendment rights — even spending $44 billion on the internet's [slowly-dying]()-and-probably-former town square to do it — it's usually worth calling out the founder's wide-ranging bending, and occasional all-out breaking, of his own proclaimed ideology. From penning columns for [censored Chinese state media](), to [suspending journalists]() and even [shadowbanning entire publications]() that he doesn't like, the [alleged emerald scion's]() absolutism is [known to warp]() to his whims and mood swings. We'd also be remiss to note that Musk is currently waging war on the antisemitism nonprofit the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which Musk is [threatening to sue]() for, uh, *defamation*, on grounds that the ADL's claims that Twitter's antisemitism problem has gotten worse since the billionaire's purchase of the platform ([it has]()) has caused the social media platform to lose [massive amounts of revenue](). You know, [because Free Speech](). **More on Musk and Free Speech:** [*Free Speech Lover Elon Musk Seems to Be Throttling Exposure to Sites He Doesn't Like on Twitter*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()