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Twitter Head of Trust and Safety Ella Irwin resigned Thursday, the second person to hold that role under Elon Musk to quit in the seven months since his takeover of the social media giant.
She oversaw an outlet that has faced criticism for lax protections against harmful content since billionaire Elon Musk acquired it in October.
Irwin, who joined Twitter in June 2022, took over as head of the trust and safety team in November when previous head Yoel Roth resigned. She oversaw content moderation.
An email to Twitter returned an automated reply with a poop emoji. Irwin declined further comment and Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kara Swisher, a tech journalist and frequent critic of Musk, called Irwin an ‘Elon loyalist’ who was ‘kicked to the curb.’
Twitter Head of Trust and Safety Ella Irwin resigned Thursday, the second person to hold that role under Elon Musk to quit in the seven months since his takeover of the social media giant
Irwin’s departure comes as the platform has struggled to retain advertisers, with brands wary of appearing next to unsuitable content.
When she joined Twitter, Yahoo News interviewed a former employee who said she’d never met an executive as ‘smart or cutthroat’ as Irwin.
Another added that while working for her at Amazon, Irwin had ‘made me cry my first week.’
The Washington Post reported that Irwin had been a conduit for the release of ‘The Twitter Files,’ specifically those published by The Free Press’ Bari Weiss.
‘My only involvement with Bari was to pull up accounts she had questions about and ensure that she could see their status/enforcement history. That’s it,’ she claimed.
In December, with Irwin taking over for Roth, Twitter dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the advisory group of around 100 independent civil, human rights and other organizations that the company formed in 2016 to address hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other problems on the platform.
The council had been scheduled to meet with Twitter representatives. But Twitter informed the group via email that it was disbanding it shortly before the meeting was to take place, according to multiple members.
Irwin took over from Roth, who had become controversial after resigning from the platform last December.
In December, with Irwin taking over for Roth, Twitter dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the advisory group of around 100 independent civil, human rights and other organizations that the company formed in 2016 to address hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other problems on the platform
Musk has been in charge of Twitter since his takeover in October 2022
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He was forced to flee the $1.1m Bay Area mansion he shares with his boyfriend after Elon Musk shared part of his thesis which suggested letting children access gay hook-up app Grindr.
Roth’s thesis, written in 2016 while he was at the University of Pennsylvania, included the claim that many under-18s access gay hook-up app Grindr, despite being too young to do so.
He then suggested that an age-appropriate version of the app be created, to offer support to LGBT youth.
During his time at Twitter, Roth had huge sway in deciding which posts needed to be removed and accounts suspended.
He also gleefully joked about upcoming meetings with FBI officials in the recently-released Twitter files.
The former trust and safety manager became emblematic of what free-speech fans say were the problems with Twitter censoring posts that went against a liberal viewpoint.
Musk announced earlier this month that he hired Linda Yaccarino, former NBCUniversal advertising chief, to become Twitter’s new CEO.
Fortune earlier reported that Irwin’s internal Slack account appeared to have been deactivated.
Irwin took over from Yoel Roth, who had become controversial after resigning from the platform last December
Since Musk’s acquisition, Twitter has cut costs dramatically and laid off thousands of employees, including many who had worked on efforts to prevent harmful and illegal content, protect election integrity, and surface accurate information on the site
Since Musk’s acquisition, Twitter has cut costs dramatically and laid off thousands of employees, including many who had worked on efforts to prevent harmful and illegal content, protect election integrity, and surface accurate information on the site.
Musk has promoted a feature called Community Notes, which lets users add context to tweets, as a way to combat misleading information on Twitter.
The company is also facing increasing scrutiny from regulators over its moderation efforts.
Twitter withdrew from a voluntary agreement with the European Union to tackle disinformation, while saying it was committed to complying with upcoming internet rules in the EU.
EU industry chief Thierry Breton warned Twitter last week that it would not be able to avoid legal obligations in the EU after quitting the voluntary agreement.
