Ella Irwin, Head of Trust and Safety at Twitter, Resigns

The Twitter logo on the exterior of Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, Calif., on Oct. 28, 2022. Constanza Hevia/AFP via Getty Images

Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, has resigned from the social media company nearly a year after she joined in June 2022.

Irwin confirmed her departure to Reuters but did not provide a reason for the move.

The former Amazon director joined Twitter last summer just a few months before Musk acquired the platform for $43 billion; taking over as head of the trust and safety team in November after previous head Yoel Roth resigned.

She oversaw content moderation, including hate speech on the platform, in her former role. It is unclear who will replace her.

Irwin had previously defended both Twitter and Musk, who has faced criticism amid concerns that the platform’s content moderation policies would be weakened under the billionaire businessman.

Musk has regularly advocated for free speech on the site.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in December, Irwin said Musk had ordered employees to make safety on the platform a priority among employees—particularly with regard to child exploitation—even if it saw the number of Twitter users decline.

She also noted that Twitter’s trust and safety team under Musk is “amply staffed,” contrary to reports.

Twitter responded to an Epoch Times request for comment about Irwin’s departure with a poop emoji.

Musk Announces New CEO

Her announcement comes shortly after Musk named NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino as the CEO of Twitter.

In a statement, Musk said Yaccarino will “focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology.”

“Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app,” Musk wrote, referring to his super app which is similar to China’s WeChat.

While many have welcomed Musk’s decision to appoint Yaccarino as Twitter CEO, others have raised concerns that she might pursue a “woke” agenda at Twitter, noting her role as Chairman of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Taskforce on Future of Work.

WEF is led by Klaus Schwab, who has previously said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a “role model” for other nations despite China being heavily condemned for its efforts to suppress free speech.

“She represents advertisers, and her natural inclination is to limit speech and pander to those who push woke ideology on the world,” Billboard Chris, a Canadian activist who has campaigned against gender ideology wrote in a May 12 tweet after Musk’s announcement regarding Yaccarino.

“You will have to watch her like a hawk” he continued.

“She was also thrilled to spend $100,000,000 on social justice initiatives while at NBC, and forwarded government authoritarian propaganda that the way back to a normal life was to ‘wear your mask!’ No doubt she’ll bring in advertising revenue in the short term, but she’s a long-term mistake,” he added.

Second Twitter Employee Departs

Responding to Chris’ tweet, Musk said he understood the concerns being raised about Yaccarino but cautioned against judging her too soon.

“I am adamant about defending free speech, even if it means losing money,” Musk wrote.

Elsewhere on Thursday, another Twitter employee, Maie Aiyed, claimed to have resigned from the platform.

Taking to the platform, Aiyed, who works as a Program Manager for Brand Safety Partnerships at Twitter, according to her LinkedIn profile said it was her “last day at the bird app.”

“It was a hell of a journey, and I already miss my amazing team,” she wrote, according to TechCrunch. “To the most incredible manager, mentor, and friend — thanks for taking a chance on me @ajb_sf.”

The Twitter post has since been deleted.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Aiyed began working as a program manager at Twitter in the San Francisco Bay Area in March 2022. Before that, she worked as a Policy Manager and Policy enforcement Specialist at YouTube.

Twitter responded to an Epoch Times request for comment with a poop emoji.