x is twitter.com/XNews/status/1773821491626295487″ rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:funding a lawsuit;cpos:1;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>finance a lawsuit filed by Chloe Happe against her former employer Block, which was founded by Jack Dorsey, the same person who founded the website formerly known as twitter. In her lawsuit, Happe said Block had wrongfully fired her in retaliation for two posts she made about her in what she called her “satirical, pseudonymous account” on x while she was on her personal time. she. One of the posts made after the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7 referred to refugees fleeing Gaza and arriving in the Kurdistan Region. In another, she used ableist language and an anti-transgender slur while referencing the use of a “gender-neutral bathroom in the office.”
Happe repeatedly emphasized that she “expressed her political views, opinions, or beliefs in the form of satire.” She said she did not mention Block in any posts on her anonymous account and that she did not make those posts during her work hours. Happe also said she “voluntarily deleted” the refugee post within days of posting it. She deleted the post with the insults the same day she made it when she saw that x had limited her visibility.
But Block still obtained copies of the posts and did not tell her whether another employee had complained about them, she argued in her lawsuit, admitting that she initially denied making them for fear of getting in trouble. He accused Block of firing her, without compensation, solely because he expressed opinions with which the company disagreed. Happe argued that Block's policies expressly allowed its employees to engage in speech like those in his publication, so it was the company that violated its own rules. Jack Dorsey, founder of Block (a financial services company) and twitter, had publicly endorsed Elon Musk before the latter took ownership of the social media platform. Last year, however, he twitter-it-all-went-south.html” class=”link rapid-with-clickid etailiffa-link” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:changed his tune;elm:affiliate_link;sellerN:CNBC;elmt:;cpos:3;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>changed his tone and criticized Musk, saying that “everything went wrong” after he took office and that he “should have walked away” from the acquisition.
On his own, Elon Musk twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1773864631917748421″ rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:retweeted;cpos:4;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>retweeted x's announcement that he supports Happe's lawsuit with the caption: “Supporting your right to free speech.” The company had previously twitter.com/XNews/status/1745155001108877788?s=20″ rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:funded other lawsuits;cpos:5;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>financed other lawsuits in the name of “freedom of expression.” One of those cases is Gina Carano's lawsuit against Lucasfilm and Disney, whom she accused of removing her from The Mandalorian for expressing opinions that “were not in line with the acceptable narrative of the time.” Carano notably questioned the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and added “boop/bop/beep” as a pronoun. He also shared a post on instagram that compared the treatment of conservatives in the United States to the treatment of Jews in Nazi-era Germany.
Happe asks the court to order her reinstatement as a Block employee. She also seeks compensatory and punitive damages, including her loss of wages from the time she was terminated.
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