For some employees, the reversal signaled chaos: Musk was going to keep tweeting his critiques of Twitter to more than 80 million followers on the site, without any requirement to act in the best interests of the company. The Q&A was canceled…

The whiplash is overwhelming, employees said. The vibe among workers at Twitter is “super stressed,” with employees “working together to help each other get through the week,” some said, asking not to be named discussing internal company details…

Some Twitter staffers had mixed feelings about attending the ask-me-anything session with Musk anyway. It might have clarified whether Musk had plans to be friendly or hostile with his stake, but it could also have raised further questions about how to react to his whims.

“Musk’s immediate chilling effect was something that bothered me significantly,” Rumman Chowdhury, a director on Twitter’s AI research team, posted on the social media site.