On Monday, March 20, Tanishka Sodhi, a ‘journalist’ for propaganda site Newslaundry, took to Twitter to whine over receiving a ‘poop’ emoji from Elon Musk’s Twitter Press desk for inquiring about the withholding of accounts of some ‘journalists.’
“Meanwhile, here’s @Twitter‘s official response to our questions about the legal demands on the basis of which journalists’ accounts are being withheld in India,” Tanishka Sodhi tweeted sharing the ‘poop’ emoji.
Meanwhile, here’s @Twitter‘s official response to our questions about the legal demands on the basis of which journalists accounts are being withheld in India.
— Tanishka Sodhi (@tanishka_s2) March 20, 2023
💩, literally. https://t.co/5nT5nhGmY9 pic.twitter.com/V8Qjwlv497
On Monday, the Newslaundry journalist took to Twitter to share a report by the news portal withholding the account of Canadian lawmaker Jagmeet Singh in India. Notably, Singh’s account was withheld after he, in a series of tweets, expressed “concerns” over the ongoing operation in Punjab and compared the Punjab Government’s efforts to curb pro-Khalistani elements to the steps taken by the government during the Punjab insurgency.
Sharing the link to Newlaundry’s report on this issue, Tanishka Sodhi sent a query to Twitter asking for its response on why the accounts of Jagmeet Singh and Rupi Kaur were withheld. In response, she received a ‘poop’ emoji from the microblogging site Twitter’s Press desk.
Surprisingly, Tanishka Sodhi’s baffled response came despite Elon Musk announcing on Sunday itself that all emails sent to the official Twitter press email would auto-respond with a poop emoji. “[email protected] now auto responds with (poop emoji),” Musk informed on March 19, Sunday.
[email protected] now auto responds with 💩
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2023
Notably, the shift comes after Twitter’s previous email address for journalists with inquiries about the firm had gone dormant for months. It has been widely reported that the social media company axed its public relations staff in multiple rounds of layoffs following Musk’s takeover of Twitter in October.
Incidentally, Twitter isn’t Musk’s first firm without a press team. Tesla, too, lacks a press team. Even after investors asked Musk to bring back the Tesla press department, the billionaire said there was no need for one at any of his firms.
“Other companies spend money on advertising & manipulating public opinion, Tesla focuses on the product. I trust the people,” one of Musk’s tweets from April 2021 noted.
Other companies spend money on advertising & manipulating public opinion, Tesla focuses on the product.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2021
I trust the people.
Musk fully eliminated Tesla’s press department in 2020, and no one in the firm has handled press inquiries since then. Musk is usually the one who takes to Twitter to handle customer complaints regarding Tesla products. Musk will probably employ a similar strategy at Twitter.
