Big changes are coming in Twitter’s top management, with officials leaving the company in the last few days after Tesla billionaire Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover.
According to Reuters, the massive exodus of the platform’s top management, which included its advertising and marketing chiefs, follows Musk’s firing of CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde.
Twitter Chief Customer Officer Sarah Personette announced on the platform early this week that she resigned from the social media company the previous week.
Her resignation brings uncertainty to advertisers as they question the direction of the social media company under Musk.
Aside from Personette, Chief People and Diversity Officer Dalana Brand and General Manager for Core Technologies Nick Caldwell also announced their resignations this week.
Reuters also revealed that Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Berland, Twitter’s Head of Product Jay Sullivan, and Vice President of Global Sales Jean-Philippe Maheu have also left.
The details are unclear on whether they quit or were asked to leave.
Multiple employees of Twitter revealed that they continue to receive little information about the future of the company, with Wednesday’s all-staff meeting to communicate the changes called off after the cancellation of a check-in call last week.
Musk’s team is meeting with advertisers this week as the company’s increasingly skittish customers raise alarms about the potential for harmful content to appear next to their ads.
Hateful content has skyrocketed since the deal was closed. Network Contagion Research Institute reported that the use of the n-word had increased by nearly 500%, stating that the surge in the use of racial slurs was a “cyber-social threat.”
A coalition of over 40 advocacy organizations sent an open letter to Twitter’s top advertisers this week, asking them to pull their ads if Musk guts content moderation on the platform.
Mediabrands has also advised its clients to pause their advertising on Twitter until the company gives more details about its plans to protect trust and safety on the platform.
While Musk has attempted to reassure advertisers by stating that the platform’s commitment to brand safety remains unchanged, his previous announcement of reversing former President Donald Trump’s Twitter ban leaves advertisers apprehensive of his promise.
Source: Reuters. Content has been edited for style and length.