SpaceX fires at least five employees who criticised 'free speech absolutist' Elon Musk

pcgamer.com:

This year in tech has Elon Musk's presence looming large over it, thanks mainly to his proposed acquisition of Twitter in a deal that could be worth about $44 billion(opens in new tab). That all seems to be going a bit awry, with critics divided over whether Musk is trying to drive down what seems like an over-inflated price, or back away from the deal entirely.

One of the reasons the Twitter deal has been such news is the nature of Musk himself: Probably the most high-profile billionaire in the world outside of Bill Gates, and a man with fingers in many important pies. The two most notable are Tesla and SpaceX, and Musk's critics wonder just how many major businesses this guy can possibly run at once: the fact he's simultaneously clowning himself on Twitter does not help, of course.

This was the subject of an open letter by SpaceX employees, which was circulated on social media and first reported on by the Verge(opens in new tab). The letter called Musk's public behaviour and specifically his tweeting «a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment [...] every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company.»

It cites the SpaceX workplace policy of 'No assholes' and asks that management «publicly address and condemn Elon’s harmful Twitter behavior.»

The letter became public on Wednesday 14 June. The New York Times has now reported that multiple employees involved in organising the letter were fired(opens in new tab) by Thursday afternoon. It quotes an email from Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's president and chief operating officer, which has been sent to SpaceX employees:

«You may have received an unsolicited request from a small group of SpaceX employees for your signature on an 'open letter'