Elon Musk slams Twitter’s top lawyer who sobbed after he bought social media network and blasts her for ‘incredibly inappropriate’ censorship of Hunter Biden laptop story

  • Vijaya Gadde, the 48-year-old chief legal officer and general counsel of Twitter, called a virtual meeting with the policy and legal teams she oversees on Monday
  • Gadde wanted to update her team on the implications of Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the company, and ended up breaking down in tears, Politico said
  • Gadde ‘expressed concerns about how the company could change,’ Politico reported, under Musk’s leadership, in which free speech is championed
  • Having joined Twitter in 2011, she has been central in crafting the company’s positions on banning hate speech versus allowing free debate
  • Gadde was instrumental in the decision to ban Donald Trump from the platform in January 2020 on charges of inciting violence
  • Musk has not commented on reinstating the former president’s account and his 89m followers; Trump said on Monday he will not rejoin, but few believe him
  • Conservative commentator Saagar Enjeti called her Twitter’s ‘top censorship advocate’ and noted her key role in banning reports on Hunter Biden’s laptop
  • Musk replied: ‘Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate’ 

Details about Biden’s business dealings and personal life have emerged in the media thanks to copies of a laptop and hard drive. The FBI took possession of the actual hardware after the owner, believed to be Biden, left it for repairs at a shop in Delaware in April 2019 and never returned. Copies were made and spread across the media landscape, and the New York Post led the charge in reporting on the contents of the laptop that is believed to have belonged to the president’s son.

While other major media outlets sought to cast doubt on its authenticity, Big Tech companies even took steps to suppress its spread in the final weeks of the 2020 election.

When the New York Post attempted to post the articles on its Twitter account, the social media company claimed it violated its rule against sharing “hacked” materials. In fact, Twitter and Facebook limited users from sharing it for a time. Twitter locked the New York Post out of its account Oct. 14, 2020, in a standoff that lasted roughly two weeks.

In recent months, the New York Times and Politico have come forth with reports saying at least some of the contents on the laptop have been authenticated. Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey has called the New York Post lockout a “mistake.”