Elon Musk's first open discussion with staff at Twitter, following his signing of a $44 billion deal to take over the social media company, hinted at potential changes to come under his management.
A video recording of the meeting, in which the billionaire businessman appeared to be hosting the link from a kitchen, has been posted across the internet.
Here are five of the main things that he touched upon:
Views on freedom of speech
Mr Musk has already said he will reverse Twitter’s permanent ban on former US president Donald Trump if his acquisition of the social media platform is successfully completed.
Banning Mr Trump from the platform last year was a “mistake” and a “morally bad decision”, he said.
Mr Musk said his offer to buy Twitter came after frequent complaints about content censorship and a lack of free speech on the site.
However, this has led to concerns about how hate speech and policies to moderate content will be handled under his leadership.
In the video meeting, Mr Musk likened Twitter to a “digital town square, but much more than that as you can't fit that many people in a town square”.
For a functioning democracy, it is essential to have free speech, he said.
“It is free speech within the context of the law — I am not suggesting we just flout the law because we will get shut down. An important goal for Twitter is to include as much of the world as possible,” he said.
“We need to strike this balance between allowing people to say what they want to say but making them comfortable on Twitter. I am in favour of going as far as the law will allow us,” Mr Musk said.
Job cuts?
The company needs to turn its fortunes around as costs currently exceed revenue, “so that's not a great situation to be in”, Mr Musk told Twitter staff.
“There has to be some rationalisation of headcount,” he said.
“Anyone who makes a significant contribution has nothing to worry about. If someone's getting useful things done, then that's great; if they are not, then I am like why are they at the company?”
Remote work
Mr Musk, who is also Tesla's chief executive, recently came under the spotlight when an email he sent to the electric car maker's staff, which was made public, instructed employees to be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours a week or leave as remote work was no longer acceptable.
He told Twitter staff: “Tesla makes cars and you can't make cars remotely; it has to be done in a big factory. There are some roles at Tesla where work can be done remotely, like say software or design.
“If somebody is exceptional at their job it is possible for them to be effective remotely. With Tesla, I requested that a manager confirms that someone is an excellent contributor, and if they do, they are allowed to work remotely,” he said.
“If someone is working remotely, they need to show up occasionally so that they can recognise their colleagues. You can't walk down the street and pass your colleague and not recognise them — that would not be good.”
Twitter plans, transparency and troll farms
During the call, Mr Musk touched upon his potential plans for Twitter and what it needs.
To build trust in Twitter, there needs to be transparency — “that's why I'm an advocate for the algorithm to be open source so people can critique it or improve it”, he said.
He said getting rid of troll farms and bots was incredibly important. Tweets and reactions could be prioritised for those who are verified.
“We need to improve the core technology, we need to improve the design,” he said.
“I have a great understanding of the product because I use Twitter every day. What I have less understanding of is bot / spam or anything that affects the monetisable daily user number.”
The businessman wants to have at least 1 billion people on Twitter, from 229 million at present.
Aliens
The world's richest man rambled into topics outside of business during the 45-minute call.
Speaking about Tesla and SpaceX, Mr Musk switched to an existential discussion, talking of sustainable energy and extending the “scope, scale and lifespan of consciousness as we know it”.
“It would be great to understand more about the universe, why we are here, the meaning of life, where are things going, where do we come from,” he said.
“Can we travel to other star systems and see if there are alien civilisations? There might be a whole bunch of long dead, one-planet civilisations out there that existed 500 million years ago,” he said, clarifying, however, that he has not seen “actual evidence of aliens”.
MATCH INFO
Norwich City 1 (Cantwell 75') Manchester United 2 (Aghalo 51' 118') After extra time.
Man of the match Harry Maguire (Manchester United)
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20S24%20ULTRA
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RECORD%20BREAKER
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Royal wedding inspired menu
Ginger, citrus and orange blossom iced tea
Avocado ranch dip with crudites
Cucumber, smoked salmon and cream cheese mini club sandwiches
Elderflower and lemon syllabub meringue
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
SPECS
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How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
Essentials
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Geneva from Dh2,845 return, including taxes. The flight takes 6 hours.
The package
Clinique La Prairie offers a variety of programmes. A six-night Master Detox costs from 14,900 Swiss francs (Dh57,655), including all food, accommodation and a set schedule of medical consultations and spa treatments.
The%20specs
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UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
New schools in Dubai
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
Company%20Profile
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PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
