Elon Musk is known as the bombastic CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who constantly tweets seemingly everything on his mind. Twitter employees, though, are being asked to keep their hands off their own “tweet” buttons after he sent a letter informing the company he wanted to back out of his planned $44 billion takeover.
In a memo reportedly sent to employees Friday by Sean Edgett, Twitter’s general counsel, the company said they should refrain from “Tweeting, Slacking or sharing any commentary about the merger agreement.”
“We will continue to share information when we are able, but please know we are going to be very limited on what we can share in the meantime,” he added, according to a copy of the memo published earlier by The Verge. “I know this is an uncertain time, and we appreciate your patience and ongoing commitment to the important work we have underway.” A Twitter spokeswoman declined to comment.
Read more: Elon Musk Doesn’t Want to Buy Twitter Anymore: What You Need to Know
In any normal time, this letter would be perfunctory, barely worth a mention. But in the age of social media, and specifically when it comes to Musk and Twitter, it takes on heightened significance. Twitter employees have increasingly been outspoken as Musk has attacked them, their work and their company over everything from content moderation to how it makes money.
Read more: Elon Musk Pulls Out of $44B Deal to Buy Twitter
Now that Twitter’s board of directors has vowed to pursue legal action to enforce Musk’s $44 billion offer, embarrassing company communications could become wrapped up in the suit.
Musk in the meantime hasn’t tweeted since his letter backing out of the deal was published with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday. His last tweet, on Thursday, was about his excitement over product development at Tesla.
