Twitter’s head of trust and safety Ella Irwin has resigned, the now-former executive confirmed to Reuters on Thursday.
Irwin took over for Yoel Roth, who famously left the company during the early days of Elon Musk’s chaotic Twitter takeover. While Roth clashed with Musk over the new Twitter owner’s hands-off approach to content moderation, Irwin appeared well-aligned with Musk’s ideals, which have welcomed neo-Nazis and fostered 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 does align with Twitter’s drama du jour.
On Thursday, conservative outlet the Daily Wire claimed that Twitter “canceled a deal” 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 many people at Twitter,” Musk told Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing in a reply. “It is definitely allowed.”
This was a mistake by many people at Twitter. It is definitely allowed.
Whether or not you agree with using someone’s preferred pronouns, not doing so is at most rude and certainly breaks no laws.
I should note that I do personally use someone’s preferred pronouns, just as I…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2023
In spite of Musk’s assertion, the documentary’s reach was limited on Twitter at the time of writing, citing the platform’s rules against hateful conduct.
While it’s not clear that the Irwin situation is connected, she likely would have been involved in the decision to label the video, which is currently igniting a firestorm among conservative and anti-transgender Twitter users who see Musk as a reliable ally.
Twitter quietly removes policy against misgendering trans people
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