2023-06-03 13:27:30
Linda Yaccarino, the new CEO of Twitter, has not yet taken office that, already, she sees her collaborators leaving. Ella Irwin confirmed on Friday that she had resigned from her position as vice president in charge of safety and moderation of content at Twitter, the second departure to this position since the takeover of the social network by Elon Musk at the end of October. And the social network’s head of brand safety and advertising quality, AJ Brown, has also decided to leave the company, according to the Wall Street journal.
“One or two people noticed that I left Twitter yesterday,” Ella Irwin joked on her account Friday, after 24 hours of rumors and media articles. “I did resign,” she continued in two messages that do not explain her reasons. “It has been an incredible experience and I am so grateful to have worked with this amazing team of passionate, creative and hardworking people.”
Hired by Twitter in June 2022, Ella Irwin had replaced Yoel Roth in November. He had resigned in rejection of the methods of Elon Musk, who “defines the regulations of Twitter with unilateral decrees”, he explained later. He also warned that the new CEO had failed at all to “convince advertisers” to stay, a major problem for Twitter’s business model, which is 90% dependent on advertising.
In December, the company disbanded 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 combat speech. of hatred, the exploitation of children or suicide in particular.
AJ Brown has not confirmed his departure. He is responsible for the quality of advertising and “brand safety”, and therefore must ensure that the content is appropriate to accompany advertisers’ promotional campaigns.
A controversy over a documentary
Moderating and accompanying ads has become more difficult under new owner Elon Musk, who, after laying off thousands of people, relaxed content rules, removed identity verification and reinstated accounts that had been banned for misbehavior or misinformation, including Donald Trump’s account. Aware that users were going to pay little to appear on the blue bird network, Musk chose an advertising specialist, Linda Yaccarino, as general manager. She will take up her duties in a few weeks.
These two departures come the day after yet another controversy, this time about a documentary entitled “What is a woman? about gender issues and transgender people, in which is interviewed Matt Walsh, a commentator known for his transphobic remarks, which appeared last year on the conservative news site The Daily Wire. The outlet, which recently moved to Twitter for its podcasts, criticized the service for trying to remove the film in the name of content moderation policies, which prohibit not using a person’s chosen pronouns. (say “he” instead of “of her”, for example).
“It’s a mistake by several people at Twitter,” Elon Musk said, explaining that in his view, while it’s “rude” not to use a person’s correct pronouns, it “doesn’t violate no law”. He indicated that the film would be viewable for users subscribed to The Daily Wire account, but that it would not be “recommended” by the algorithms, and then tweeted the documentary himself, writing that “all parents should watching” and that “a child is not capable of consenting.
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