Employee activism | Elon Musk's Twitter takeover sparks fears of disgruntled staff 'going rogue'

Twitter is reportedly blocking any changes or updates to the platform amid fears that some staff, left disgruntled by Elon Musk’s takeover deal, could ‘go rogue’ and sabotage operations.

As first reported by Bloomberg, the social media giant appears to be taking drastic steps to offset the risk of activist employees expressing their discontent, after the board approved Musk’s $44billion (approx. £35billion) takeover bid.

Over the course of the last few weeks, Musk became one of the company’s biggest shareholders, and was offered a place on the board, which he rejected. Although Twitter initially tried to hamper his ability to gain a substantial shareholding with its ‘poison pill’ discounting of the shares in order to prevent any shareholder amassing a stake of more than 15%, negotiations were reopened after Musk revealed a $46.5billion financing deal.

The firm has now blocked routine changes such as product updates for several days, with alterations only possible if they’re identified as “business critical” and approved by an executive with a vice president title or higher.