A top Twitter Inc executive responsible for safety and content moderation has left the company, after owner Elon Musk publicly complained about the platform’s handling of posts about transgender topics.
The departure pointed to a fresh wave of turmoil among key officials at Twitter since Musk took over last year.
Twitter head of trust and safety Ella Irwin confirmed her resignation in two tweets late on Friday.
Photo: Reuters
She did not say why she was leaving, but her departure came shortly after Musk criticized Twitter’s handling of tweets about a conservative media company’s documentary that questions transgender medical treatment for children and teens.
Musk was responding to complaints by media company Daily Wire cochief executive officer Jeremy Boreing.
Boreing wrote on Twitter and retweeted conservative commentators on Thursday, saying that Twitter was suppressing the movie by flagging posts about it as hate speech and keeping the movie off lists of trending topics.
Twitter canceled a deal to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform, “because of two instances of ‘misgendering,’” Boreing wrote.
Twitter rules prohibit intentionally referring to transgender people with the wrong gender or name.
“This was a mistake by many people at Twitter. It is definitely allowed,” Musk tweeted back. “Whether or not you agree with using someone’s preferred pronouns, not doing so is at most rude and certainly breaks no laws.”
“One or two people noticed” Irwin left the company the day before, she wrote on Twitter, adding that people were speculating about whether she was fired or had quit.
She said that she would post 24 tweets to explain her departure, then said she was just kidding about the long narrative.
“In all seriousness, I did resign but this has been a once in a lifetime experience and I’m so thankful to have worked with this amazing team of passionate, creative and hardworking people. Will be cheering you all and Twitter as you go,” she wrote.
Next to Musk, Irwin had been the most prominent voice of the company’s ever-changing content policies.
Twitter has struggled to bring back advertisers turned off by Musk’s drastic changes and loosening of rules against hate speech since he bought the platform for US$44 billion in October last year.
Twitter has an incoming chief executive officer, Linda Yaccarino, known for decades of media and advertising industry experience.
Irwin and Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.
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