As Twitter’s new chief executive officer (CEO) Elon Musk fired the company’s top executives including former CEO Parag Agarwal and legal and policy head Vijaya Gadde, right-wing Twitter handlers waved a happy goodbye to them.
In 2018, when Twitter founder Jack Dorsey was still with the company, he along with Gadde visited India and posed with many prominent female journalists for a photo. Dorsey was seen holding a poster that read “Smash Brahmanical Patriarchy”.
The picture went viral on the social media platform offending many right-wing supporters, including former Infosys director Mohandas Pai, and editor-in-chief of right-wing mouthpiece OpIndia Nupur Sharma. Pai went a step further accusing Dorsey of being a part of a hate campaign against Brahmins.
Gadde played an active role in keeping a check on hate flowing on Twitter. She was instrumental in suspending the Twitter account of former US President Donald Trump following the Capitol Hill violence in 2021.
After her termination, right-wing supporters tweeted lauding Musk’s decision. Kanchan Gupta, senior journalist and adviser to the Centre’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting tweeted, “Some photographs foretell a story. That’s @Vijaya Gadde between Barkha Dutt and Jack Dorsey when Twitter’s woke gang came visiting India with a “Smash Brahmanical Patriarchy” placard and our @lefties and @libbies whooped in delight. Vile Vijaya has got the sack.”
Nupur Sharma thanked Musk and said, “One of the very few times I am happy about a white dude firing a bunch of Indians. Thanks @elonmusk.”
Abhijit Majumdar, editor-in-chief of earshot.in termed the termination as ‘spring cleaning’. “Spring cleaning has started at the #Twitter headquarters in San Francisco. Elon Musk fires CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and legal head Vijaya Gadde. What’s the scene at Twitter India? ‘Brahminical patriarchy’ still being smashed, or something else?” he tweeted.
Who is Vijaya Gadde
The 48-year-old Vijaya Gadde was born in Hyderabad but moved to the United States at the age of three. She completed her bachelor’s degree of science in industrial and labour relations from Cornell University and then studied law at New York University.
Like Parag Agrawal, Gadde joined Twitter in 2011 as the chief legal officer. She was responsible for checking tweets that involved fake news, harassment and online bullying.
Why did Musk fire Gadde
Elon Musk’s dislike of Gadde was evident when he shared a meme, referring to American commentator, comedian, actor, and former television presenter Joe Rogan’s podcast show where Dorsey and Gadde spoke about moderating Twitter.
Musk openly criticised the decision terming it as a bolt to free speech. He expressed his disappointment when former American President Donald Trump’s Twitter account was suspended permanently. Musk, a strong supporter of the Republican Party, called the Trump ban a ‘mistake’.
It was a domino effect that led to Gadde’s termination.
After taking over Twitter, Musk tweeted that he plans to form a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.” However, he also said that no major changes have been made so far. In a recent tweet, he said, “To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies.”
