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Substack's vice president of communications put on blast triggered Twitter employees upset over Elon Musk's massive stock buy Tuesday morning with a hilarious job openings post.
"Substack is hiring!" Lulu Cheng Meservey wrote on Twitter — quickly adding an important caveat.
"If you’re a Twitter employee who’s considering resigning because you’re worried about Elon Musk pushing for less regulated speech ... please do not come work here," said the executive of Substack, a growing online subscription newsletter platform.
"But for everybody else, we really are hiring! Join a talented, determined, passionate, motley team of all backgrounds and beliefs. We debate respectfully, execute maniacally, and live to serve writers and podcasters," the Meservey continued. "Long live independent publishing."
But for everybody else, we really are hiring! Join a talented, determined, passionate, motley team of all backgrounds and beliefs. We debate respectfully, execute maniacally, and live to serve writers and podcasters. \n\nLong live independent publishing.https://substack.com/jobs— Lulu Cheng Meservey (@Lulu Cheng Meservey) 1649176359
The tweet immediately drew a wide range of responses. While many laughed at the post and praised Meservey's unabashed support for free, unregulated speech, others chided her, along with tech billionaire Elon Musk.
"If funny was weaponized...this tweet would be literal violence," wrote one user.
Another exclaimed, "Wish more companies were honest like this."
"The idea that Elon Musk is in favor of free speech is laughable," still another added to the discussion.
The day prior, Tesla CEO and known Twitter critic Elon Musk made international headlines when he purchased 73.5 million shares, or 9.2% of Twitter's stake, to become the social platform's largest individual shareholder.
Then on Tuesday, Twitter announced that Musk would be appointed to serve on the company's board of directors. The tech billionaire immediately celebrated the news by teasing "significant improvements" to the platform.
It's widely anticipated that Musk will soon use his newfound influence to push back against the platform's blatant censorship practices.
He\u2019s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term. Welcome Elon!— Parag Agrawal (@Parag Agrawal) 1649161971
In the weeks prior, Musk had ramped up his criticism against Twitter, polling users to see if they believed the platform was adhering to the principles of free speech and openly musing about starting a rival social media company. Many Twitter users implored the eccentric billionaire to simply buy Twitter and make it better.
Meservey's "We're hiring!" tweet was more than an opportunistic callout, though. It was likely also a genuine reaction, since there truly were Twitter employees who publicly lamented following the news of Musk's stock purchase.
According to the Post Millennial, scores of Twitter employees — including data scientists, software engineers, and a recruiting manager — took to the platform to express their shock and dismay.