Twitter execs tell staffers to stay quiet and not tweet about the Elon Musk deal as the company prepares to sue him for trying to back out of their agreement

• Elon Musk said Friday he wants out of a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter.
• The company will sue Musk for trying to terminate the deal, Twitter chairman Bret Taylor said.

After Elon Musk announced he wants out of his proposed deal to buy Twitter, the company instructed employees to keep quiet about the matter while it pursues legal action against the billionaire.

Twitter general counsel Sean Edgett gave staff the directive in a memo Friday, as first reported by The Verge.

"Given that this is an ongoing legal matter, you should refrain from Tweeting, Slacking, or sharing any commentary about the merger agreement," he wrote, according to an internal memo seen by The Verge. "We will continue to share information when we are able, but please know we are going to be very limited on what we can share in the meantime."

"I know this is an uncertain time, and we appreciate your patience and ongoing commitment to the important work we have underway," Edgett concluded the memo.

Edgett's comments came in tandem with a late-night message from Twitter general mangager Nick Caldwell urging staffers to "use discretion" when discussing or tweeting about the situation, according to an internal Slack channel viewed by by Insider's Kali Hayes.

"Our mission is to serve the public conversation and lately we've sure BECOME the public conversation," Caldwell wrote. "Getting the 'u ok?' text messages from my parents and friends today was not a great feeling. Nor was seeing the confusion from fellow Tweeps in our slack channels and on my home feed."

A Twitter spokesperson told Insider the company had no further comment, and pointed to a press release issued yesterday stating the board intends to take legal action in response to the "notice of purported termination from Elon Musk."

Musk's lawyers notified the US Securities Exchange Commission on Friday that he is moving to terminate the $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, claiming the company is "in material breach of multiple provisions" of the merger agreement.

Twitter chairman Bret Taylor, also the co-CEO of Salesforce, said the social media company will sue Musk for trying to back out of the deal.

"The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement," Taylor said in a tweet. "We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery."