Ella Irwin, who oversaw trust and security at the Elon Musk-owned social media site, has left her position. Irwin served for about seven months before announcing her resignation to Reuters on Thursday. She chose not to give a reason for her choice.
Ella Irwin oversaw the Twitter team that fought misinformation, got rid of offensive material, and supported the integrity of the service. But under Irwin’s leadership and since Musk became CEO, Twitter has faced significant difficulties in containing offensive content.
Musk had previously said, for example, that fighting child sex abuse material, or CSAM, was “Priority #1” for the platform.
Irwin’s departure comes at a turbulent time for the social media network, which was grappling with the dissemination of a conservative website’s purported documentary on transgender people.Twitter uploaded the video to its platform on Thursday but limited its visibility, preventing users from retweeting or commenting on it.
Video Shared by Musk
On Friday, Musk shared the video after the visibility restrictions were apparently lifted.
Twitter’s trust and safety team, the unit that Irwin ran until earlier this week, would have had responsibility for limiting the spread of the post. Irwin’s predecessor, Yoel Roth, quit just two weeks into Musk’s ownership.
Musk, who has owned Twitter since October 2022 and has described himself as a champion of free speech, called the tagging a “mistake,” but as of Friday, had not lifted the visibility limitations. The dissemination of explicit, violent or hateful content on social media networks has been of significant concern to lawmakers, regulators, advocacy groups and the public.
Concerns over undesirable content, including racially or sexually offensive material, sparked an advertiser flight shortly after Musk acquired Twitter. Since then, he has taken steps to stem the tide and court advertisers, including hiring former NBCUniversal ad executive Linda Yaccarino as CEO.
Neither Irwin nor Musk returned a request for comment. Twitter’s press email provided an automated, noninformational response.
