Twitter’s head of trust and security, Ella Irwin, has resigned, the now-former executive confirmed to Reuters on Thursday.
Irwin took over from Yoel Roth, who left the company in the early days of Elon Musk’s chaotic takeover of Twitter. While Roth clashed with Musk over the new Twitter owner’s approach to content moderation, Irwin seemed well aligned with Musk’s ideals, which have welcomed neo-Nazis and encouraged a rise in hate speech on the platform in recent months.
At the time of writing, Irwin and Musk had yet to comment on the situation. While we don’t yet know the catalyst, the timing aligns with Twitter’s drama du jour.
On Thursday, the conservative came out on the Daily Wire claimed that Twitter “cancelled an agreement” for the website to make its film, “What is a Woman,” available on the platform for free. The documentary is a feature-length attack on transgender people, and one that Musk said was perfectly at home on the social network.
“This was a mistake by a lot of people on Twitter,” Musk told Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing in a response. “It’s definitely allowed.”
Despite Musk’s claim, the documentary’s reach was limited to Twitter at the time of writing, citing the platform’s rules against hateful conduct.
While it’s unclear if Irwin’s situation is connected, she likely would have been involved in the decision to tag the video, which is currently causing a firestorm among conservative and anti-transgender Twitter users who see Musk as a reliable ally
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In a surprise move, Twitter’s Trust and Safety lead, Ella Irwin, has resigned after nearly four years in the role. Irwin is credited with leading the company’s response to various high-products crises.
The move comes at a crucial time for Twitter, as it grapples with questions of how to protect users from abuse and hateful conduct without infringing on their freedom of speech. Irwin’s departure follows a string of prominent departures that includes chief financial officer Ned Segal and legal and policy senior director Matt Drucker.
At Ikaroa, we believe that social media platforms have a responsibility to ensure that their content remains safe and responsible. Twitter has had mixed success in managing these issues, with Irwin heading up the team’s efforts to prevent online abuse and hate speech.
We wish her the best in her future endeavors and thank her for her dedication to the platform. We understand that Twitter will be transitioning to a new team leader as it moves forward in its mission to bring greater trust and safety to its users.
