A top Twitter executive responsible for safety and content moderation has
left the company, her departure coming soon 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.
Ella
Irwin, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, confirmed her resignation in a
pair of tweets late Friday. She did not say in the message 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 Jeremy Boreing, co-CEO of
the media company, the Daily Wire. Boreing said in tweets and retweets of
conservative commentators Thursday that Twitter was suppressing the movie by
flagging posts about it as hate speech and keeping the movie off lists of
trending topics.
Boreing tweeted that Twitter canceled a deal to
premiere “What is a Woman?” for free on the platform “because of two
instances of ‘misgendering.’” Twitter rules prohibit intentionally referring
to transgender individuals 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.”
Irwin
tweeted Friday that “one or two people noticed” she left the company the day
before, and she noted speculation about whether she was fired or quit. She
teased that she would post 24 tweets to explain her departure.
Then she posted that 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!”
Next to Musk, Irwin had
been the most prominent voice of the company’s ever-changing content
policies in recent months.
Twitter has struggled to bring back
advertisers turned off by Musk’s drastic changes and loosening of rules
against hate speech since he bought Twitter for $44 billion in October.
Twitter also has an incoming CEO, Linda Yaccarino, known for decades of
media and advertising industry experience, but she hasn’t started yet.
Irwin
and Twitter didn’t respond to requests from The Associated Press for
comment.
Twitter has been in turmoil including mass layoffs and
voluntary departures since the billionaire Tesla owner bought the San
Francisco company and took it private. The company’s head of trust and
safety left shortly after the takeover, and turnover in the top ranks has
continued. Last month, Twitter fired two more top managers.
