Ella Irwin, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, told Reuters on Thursday that she had resigned from the social media firm, which has been criticized for insufficient defenses against harmful content since billionaire Elon Musk acquired it in October.
Irwin, who joined Twitter in June 2022, became the trust and safety team head in November after Yoel Roth quit. She managed material.
Twitter’s automated response included a feces emoji. Irwin declined to comment, and Musk did not immediately react. Irwin’s exit comes as the site struggles to retain sponsors, who are wary of appearing next to inappropriate content.
Musk appointed former NBCUniversal advertising head Linda Yaccarino as Twitter’s CEO earlier this month.
Irwin’s corporate Slack account was deactivated, Fortune reported. Since Musk’s acquisition, Twitter has cut costs and laid off thousands of staff, including those who worked to block harmful and unlawful content, preserve election integrity, and uncover accurate information.
To combat misinformation on Twitter, Musk has promoted Community Notes, which lets users contribute context to messages.
The company’s moderation efforts are also under increased regulatory scrutiny. Twitter said it would comply with EU internet rules after withdrawing from a voluntary pact to combat disinformation.
EU industry director Thierry Breton told Twitter last week that it would be unable to dodge EU legal duties after leaving the voluntary agreement.
