Twitter top exits continue as ad, marketing heads leave

Top exits at Twitter Inc continue as more people resigned earlier this week amid Tesla chief Elon Musk taking over the company. The development comes after Musk last week fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde. 

In a Twitter post, Sarah Personette, the former chief customer officer, said she resigned last Friday and her work access was officially cut on October 31. “It has been the greatest privilege to serve all of you as a leader and a partner. Many have heard me say this but the most important role I believe I played in the company was championing the requirements of brand safety,” she tweeted. Dalana Brand, Twitter’s chief people and diversity officer, also resigned last week. In a LinkedIn post, Brand said: “Tweeps are special. From our BRGs who work to help make our company reflect our service, to our leaders who pour into their teams every day, and every Tweep globally who remains steadfast in serving the public conversation. I am grateful to have worked alongside you and proud of the progress we have made together."

Dalana Brand, Twitter’s chief people and diversity officer, also resigned last week. In a LinkedIn post, Brand said: “Tweeps are special. From our BRGs who work to help make our company reflect our service, to our leaders who pour into their teams every day, and every Tweep globally who remains steadfast in serving the public conversation. I am grateful to have worked alongside you and proud of the progress we have made together."

Twitter chief marketing officer Leslie Berland, head of product Jay Sullivan and global sales vice president Jean-Philippe Maheu have also reportedly left the company.

The development comes at a time when several reports pointed out that the Tesla CEO is planning to terminate as many as 3,700 jobs or half of Twitter’s workforce. As of now, Twitter has around 7,500 employees. Even before the deal with Musk in April, Twitter had reportedly planned to initiate some cost-saving plans, including layoffs, which were then put on hold in light of the takeover agreement with Musk. The company is eying to reduce its overall cost and employee payroll by about $800 million by 2023.

Justice groups to Twitter advertisers

The Tesla CEO will meet Twitter advertisers later this week. Amidst the furore and uncertainty regarding free speech in the social media platform, 40 justice organisations including NAACP, Free Press, Public Citizen and Accountable Tech, amongst others have written to the top 20 Twitter advertisers including Amazon, HBO, Apple and IBM and others, urging them to ask Musk to embrace content moderation.

Citing a report by Network Contagion Research Institute, Derrick Johnson, NAACP’s president, said the hate speech, prominently the n-word (Nazi word), has increased by around 500% in the first 12 hours of Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. 

Johnson said: “Nazi memes, racial slurs and extreme far-right propaganda do not belong in the town square of any democracy or online platform. Taking the necessary actions is not rocket science, but failing to do so will put human lives at risk and further unravel our democracy.” 

“As long as hate, misinformation and disinformation spread across Twitter, the bird cannot be free,” he added.