Elon Musk’s Twitter/X is paying for a free speech lawsuit against Jack Dorsey’s Block
Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey are about to face off once again.
Twitter/X has announced it will fund a lawsuit against Block, founded by Dorsey, over a worker who alleges she was fired because of posts she made on the social media outlet.
Chloe Happe says she was fired for issuing posts on pseudonymous Twitter/X accounts. In one, she pretended to be a citizen of Kurdistan and referenced refugees fleeing Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. In another, she used slurs against trans people in reference to gender-neutral restrooms.
Happe says her termination was a violation of Block’s policy on employee free speech.
“Block’s own policies did not prohibit, and expressly allowed, its employees to engage in speech like the posts that Block referenced as grounds for terminating Happe,” the lawsuit reads. “Happe’s posts were not on Slack, nor were they directed at any employee of Block.”
Happe said she “voluntarily deleted” the posts within days of putting them online.
Twitter/X in a statement said: “Block fired Chloe because of the political opinions she expressed on X. Chloe … did not reference Block or her own identity on either account before Block fired her. But because some of the opinions she expressed in her X accounts did not conform to the prevailing political orthodoxy, Block fired her, in violation of the law. X is supporting her suit to vindicate her rights.”
X is funding a lawsuit filed today by Chloe Happe against her former employer, Block.
Block fired Chloe because of the political opinions she expressed on X. Chloe had two pseudonymous accounts on X, @bronzeageshawty and the now-deprecated @samsarashawty. She did not reference…
— News (@XNews) March 29, 2024
Block did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Block’s HR department was made aware of the posts and showed them to Happe, who denied making them and blamed “an abusive ex-boyfriend [who] must have impersonated her online” as she was afraid of getting in trouble. Block allegedly said her denial factored into the decision to terminate her employment three weeks later, the suit says.
Happe is hoping to get her job back as well as to be compensated for lost pay.
