Twitter safety exec quits after video strife

SAN FRANCISCO

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. 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.

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.

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.

Musk said during a CNBC interview in May that he will continue to tweet his unfiltered thoughts even if it hurts his businesses.

“I don’t care,” the billionaire said when asked what he thought of his controversial tweets making it harder to sell ads on Twitter or hurting the share price of Tesla, his electric vehicle manufacturing business.    “I’ll say what I want to say and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it.”