Twitter lawyer warns Elon Musk is putting the company at risk of billions in FTC fines

Twitter is the number one remote workplace, and it’s been working that way for years. It is a fundamental change to our employment contracts which require a requirement of 40 hours per week in the office. Personally, I don’t think Twitter employees are obligated to return to their positions. Certainly not without notice (ever).

Also remind all Tweeps (at least in the US) that we have an unlimited PTO policy. All beginners can take a PTO. Perhaps today is a good day to take a break and recharge.

Everyone here should also know that the CISO, Chief Privacy Officer and Chief Compliance Officer resigned last night. This news will be buried in the drama Back to the Office. I think this is intentional.

During the past two weeks. Elon has shown that he only cares about making up for the losses he has incurred as a result of his failure to exit his binding obligation to buy Twitter. Choose to enter into this agreement! Each of us goes through this as a result of the choices we make.

Elon has shown that his only priority with Twitter users is how to monetize them. I don’t think he cares about human rights activists. The defectors, our users in the unearned areas, and all the other users who made Twitter the global city plaza that I spent so much time building, we all love it.

I’ve heard Alex Spiro (current head of legal affairs) say that Elon is willing to take a great deal of risk with this company and its users, because “Elon is putting rockets in space, he’s not afraid of the FTC.” I’ve heard another leader in the legal department say that due to the tight (two-week?!) SLA between product launch > product launch, Legal will have to “shift the burden to engineers” to self-certify compliance with FTC requirements and other laws. This will place an enormous amount of personal, professional, and legal risk on engineers: I expect all of you will be under pressure from management to push for changes that are likely to lead to major accidents.

All this is very dangerous for our users. Also, since the Federal Trade Commission can (and will!) fine Twitter billions of dollars pursuant to an FTC approval order, severely detrimental to Twitter’s longevity as a platform. Our users deserve much better than this.

If you feel uncomfortable about anything you are being asked to do, you may contact the Twitter Ethics Hotline at (800) 275-4843 or submit a report at ethicshelpline.twitter.com. Please also note that the FTC number is: 1-877-FTC-HELP. You may also remember that Mudge reached out to: http://whistlebloweraid.org

I wish you all the best. It is a great honor to work with all of you. And I’m taking a day off from the PTO today. 🫡💙