“Twitter does not believe in free speech.”
The statement above was one of the main takeaways from the newest undercover video from investigative journalism outlet, Project Veritas.
Vertias looks to have spoken multiple times with Twitter Senior Engineer Siru Murugesan about the culture within the social media company and what it’s been like since Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been in talks to purchase Twitter.
Saying that Twitter doesn’t believe in free speech would’ve been enough for a story on its own. But, Murugesan provided a treasure trove of insight into the blue bird brand.
At one point, Murugesan spoke about how Twitter has “bias” against “right wing” voices on the platform, but generalized those on the right as thinking “it’s okay” to “bully a transgender.”
“For example, like if you bully a transgender, the right thinks it’s okay, the left does not,” Murugesan told the undercover Veritas reporter.
The young engineer also painted “right wing” people as being pro-bullying, while portraying the left as tolerant people who wants censorship so that people aren’t allowed to “bully” others.
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“So, everyone on the right wing will be like, ‘bro, it’s okay to say it, just gotta tolerate it.’ The left will be like, ‘no, I’m not gonna tolerate it. I need it censored or else I’m not gonna be on the platform. So, it does that on the right. It’s true. There is bias. It is what it is today.”
What Twitter construes as “bullying” could be something as simple as responding negatively to someone’s “hot take” on the platform. Murugesan didn’t expand on what constitutes bullying, which leaves the specific designations of different actions as vague as Twitter’s terms of service.
Possibly the most honest and even-handed take that Murugesan told the undercover Vertias reporter after beginning to talk about Musk’s possible impact on the company.
“I don’t know the two parties can truly coexist on one platform.”
Murugesan also spoke on the atmosphere among existing Twitter employees while Musk’s possible purchase is in the works. He classified his colleagues as being “super left, left, left, left, left.”
“They hate it. Oh my God. I’m at least like okay with it,” Murugesan said. “But some of my colleagues are like super left, left, left, left, left.”
“A lot has changed. A lot has changed,” he added. “Like we’re stress eating a lot. Like we’re always worried for our jobs.”
That was when Murugesan said possibly the most inflammatory comment of the whole video concerning his co-workers driving ideology as compared to what he believes is Musk’s.
“You know, our jobs are at stake,” said Murugesan. “He’s a capitalist and we weren’t really operating like capitalists, more like very socialist. Like we’re all like commie as f**k.”
He then spoke about how Twitter’s atmosphere as a company influenced his personal political beliefs, essentially radicalizing him.
“Like, I started working for Twitter and became left,” Murugesan said in the video before cutting to his next comment. “I think it’s just like the environment, like you’re there and you become like this commie — they call it Commifornia for some reason.”
The video drew closer to the end by showing Murugesan talk about how current Twitter employees “did all we could to revolt” against Musk’s possible purchasing of the company.
“I mean, we did all we could to like revolt against it,” Murugesan said. “A lot of employees revolted against it. But at the end of the day, board of directors have the say, and then they acted on their best interests cause they didn’t wanna get sued.”
With the current rumor that Musk might not purchase the company, at least not for what he initially offered, because of the news that bots might inhabit a larger portion of the user base, it’ll be interesting to see if Musk adjusts his offer or pulls the offer altogether, essentially leaving Twitter to drown itself in the stock market.
For the full video from Project Veritas, watch below: