Twitter Loses Another Top Executive Following Musk’s Take Over Last Year

Topline

Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, has resigned from the company, Reuters reported, making her the latest high-level exit from the social media company and the second person in her position to leave after Elon Musk’s takeover of the company.

Key Facts

According to Reuters, Irwin confirmed her resignation but refused to provide any additional details about what led to her departure.

Reuters’ report follows speculation about Irwin’s fate after Fortune reported that her internal Slack account had been deactivated.

Musk has yet to publicly comment on the departure and it is unclear who will be taking over from Irwin in the interim.

Irwin is the second trust and safety head to leave Twitter since Musk’s acquisition and she had taken over the role from Yoel Roth, who left the company in November.

What To Watch For

Irwin’s departure from Twitter comes at a time of transition for the company as Elon Musk has appointed former NBC Universal ad executive Linda Yaccarino to take over from him as the company’s CEO while he will become the executive chair and CTO “overseeing product, software & sysops.”

Key Background

Irwin’s departure comes as Twitter continues to face criticism over its lax moderation of hateful and illegal content. Irwin has yet to publicly comment on these issues. Her predecessor Roth had criticized Twitter’s actions after leaving the company in November, prompting Musk to publicly lash out at him. Musk attempted to fan a conspiracy that Roth was supportive of pedophilia, based on Roth’s 2016 Ph.D. dissertation about the LGBTQ dating app Grindr. This led to death threats against the former executive and he was forced to leave his home along with his family. Studies suggest hate speech on Twitter is largely going unchecked and the company is reportedly not removing hateful content shared by users who pay for Twitter’s $8 monthly Blue subscription.

Tangent

Earlier on Thursday, the Platformer’s Zoe Schiffer reported that Musk has emailed all Twitter employees asking them to send everything they have “accomplished recently and encouraging them to suggest changes for the future — even if they’re controversial or include overturning a decision he’s made.”

Big Number

1,800. That is the estimated size of Twitter’s total headcount following its most recent round of layoffs in February. This is down from 7,500 when Musk took over last year.

Further Reading

Twitter’s head of trust and safety says she has resigned (Reuters)

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/06/02/twitter-loses-another-top-executive-following-musks-take-over-last-year/