Twitter's Top Executives Quit As Hate Content Surges After Elon Musk Takes Control: Report
The departures come after Elon Musk's $44-billion takeover of the company last week, followed by his firing of CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and Legal Affairs and Policy Chief Vijaya Gadde
Top management of Twitter, including officials in the advertisement and marketing departments, left the company in the past few days after Tesla Chief Elon Musk took control of the social micro-blogging platform, quoting sources news agency Reuters said.
According to the report, the departures come after Musk's $44-billion takeover of the company last week, followed by his firing of CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and Legal Affairs and Policy Chief Vijaya Gadde, the sources privy to the development told the news agency.
Sarah Personette, who was chief customer officer and ad boss, tweeted on Tuesday that she resigned last week, adding to advertisers' uncertainty over how the social media company will change under Musk.
Dalana Brand, chief people and diversity officer, announced on Tuesday in a LinkedIn post that she had resigned last week as well. General manager for core technologies Nick Caldwell confirmed his departure on Twitter, changing his profile bio to "former Twitter exec" by Monday night.
Leslie Berland, chief marketing officer, Twitter's head of product Jay Sullivan, and its vice-president of global sales, Jean-Philippe Maheu, have also left, sources told Reuters.
However, it was not immediately clear whether they quit or were asked to leave.
Berland tweeted a blue heart but did not give details.
Caldwell declined further comment. The other five did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Several Twitter employees said they continue to receive little communication about the future of the company. An all-staff meeting that was scheduled for Wednesday was cancelled, following the cancellation by Twitter of a check-in call last week.
According to the report, Musk's team is meeting with advertisers this week in New York, as the company's increasingly skittish customers raise alarms about the potential for harmful content to appear next to their ads.
Hateful content has skyrocketed since Musk closed the deal. Use of the n-word has increased by nearly 500 per cent on Twitter, said the Network Contagion Research Institute, which identifies "cyber-social threats."
A coalition of more than 40 advocacy organizations including the NAACP and Free Press sent an open letter to Twitter's top 20 advertisers on Tuesday, asking them to pull their ads if Musk guts content moderation on the platform.
Mediabrands, a unit of ad holding company IPG, has advised its clients to pause advertising on Twitter for the next week until the company gives more details about its plans to protect trust and safety on the platform, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Musk has also attempted to reassure advertisers. "Twitter's commitment to brand safety is unchanged," he tweeted on Monday.
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