2-6-2023 In a surprising announcement, Ella Irwin, the head of trust and safety at Twitter, revealed her resignation from the social media giant, according to a statement given to Reuters on Thursday (Jun 1). Irwin, who had joined Twitter in June 2022, took charge of the trust and safety team in November after the departure of Yoel Roth, the previous head. Her responsibilities included overseeing the moderation of content on the platform.
Twitter has been under fire for its perceived lack of stringent measures against harmful content ever since billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk acquired the company in October. Irwin’s departure adds to the mounting pressure on the platform, as it grapples with retaining advertisers who are apprehensive about their brands being associated with inappropriate or unsuitable content.
Earlier this month, Musk made headlines by announcing the appointment of Linda Yaccarino, former advertising chief at NBCUniversal, as Twitter’s new CEO. This move was seen as part of Musk’s efforts to revitalize the platform and address the growing concerns surrounding content moderation.
When approached for comment, Twitter responded with an automated email featuring a rather unconventional poop emoji, leaving observers perplexed about the company’s stance on the matter.
In a separate report, Fortune revealed that Irwin’s internal Slack account appeared to have been deactivated, further hinting at her departure.
Since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, the company has been undergoing a significant cost-cutting exercise, resulting in the termination of numerous employees. This includes staff members who were previously involved in endeavors to combat harmful and illegal content, safeguard the integrity of elections, and promote accurate information on the platform.
Musk has actively championed a new feature called Community Notes, which enables users to provide additional context to tweets. The aim of this feature is to combat the spread of misleading information and enhance the overall user experience on Twitter.
