Twitter safety chief resigns after Musk criticizes decision to restrict film

Ella Irwin is second trust and safety chief to quit since Musk bought Twitter.

Ars Staff – Jun 2, 2023 1:19 pm | 25

Credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto

Twitter VP of Product Trust and Safety Ella Irwin resigned from the company yesterday, she confirmed to Reuters and other news outlets. Irwin’s departure came on the same day that Twitter owner Elon Musk criticized his staff for restricting What is a Woman?, a transphobic Daily Wire “documentary” that premiered in 2021.

Irwin took over as head of Twitter’s trust and safety team after the November 2022 resignation of Yoel Roth. Twitter has massively reduced its staff under Musk’s leadership and is facing scrutiny from regulators, particularly in the European Union, over its content moderation practices. Twitter executive A.J. Brown, the head of brand safety and ad quality, also left this week.

Twitter recently pulled out of the EU’s voluntary Code of Practice on Disinformation but must comply with the mandatory Digital Services Act rules taking effect on August 25. As European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton tweeted, “Obligations remain. You can run but you can’t hide. Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be [a] legal obligation under DSA as of August 25. Our teams will be ready for enforcement.”

Irwin “declined to comment on the reason for her departure in an interview with The Wall Street Journal,” the newspaper reported. “She said she felt she had always been honest in her work. Irwin, who joined Twitter about a year ago, had publicly defended the company’s actions since Musk took over as she navigated a high-profile and often-scrutinized role handling content-moderation decisions.”

Roth explained his resignation in November. He stayed at Twitter for a short time after Musk took over but said, “One of my limits was if Twitter starts being ruled by dictatorial edict rather than by policy… there’s no longer a need for me in my role, doing what I do.” Roth also criticized Musk’s “rapid-fire layoffs and an ill-fated foray into reinventing Twitter’s verification system.”

Internal dissent over misgendering

Irwin’s resignation seems to have been precipitated by internal dissent over how to enforce Twitter’s Hateful Conduct policy, which was recently edited to remove a ban on “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.” The policy still bans direct attacks on people on the basis of gender or gender identity; the dehumanization of a group of people based on gender or gender identity; and hateful imagery that promotes hostility and malice against people based on gender identity.

Daily Wire co-founder and co-CEO Jeremy Boreing wrote yesterday morning that “Twitter canceled a deal with the Daily Wire to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform because of two instances of ‘misgendering.’”

Musk: “This was a mistake”

A few hours after Boreing’s complaints, Musk stepped in. “This was a mistake by many people at Twitter. It is definitely allowed,” Musk wrote. “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 use someone’s preferred name, simply from the standpoint of good manners. However, for the same reason, I object to rude behavior, ostracism or threats of violence if the wrong pronoun or name is used.”

GLAAD and other advocacy groups criticized Twitter in April after the misgendering ban was removed, saying that Musk’s changes have “made the platform more and more unsafe for LGBTQ people and advertisers.”

Even with most restrictions on Daily Wire’s anti-trans film lifted, Musk said that What is a Woman? “will be advertising-restricted, as advertisers have the right to decide what content their ads appear with, which will impact reach to some degree.”

Musk seemed to confirm that Irwin’s departure was caused by the What is a Woman? incident. When asked if the events were related, Musk replied, “director related”—seemingly a typo for “directly related.”

Earlier versions of this story, despite several edits, continued to retain a tone and contextualization that gave many readers the impression that the story was meant to platform transphobia. Ars is a publication focused on progress, science, and community, and we want nothing to do with platforming hate in any form, including transphobia. As such, we have rewritten much of this story.

Additionally, we are going to convene in-house discussions of LGBTQIA+ issues in journalism, how we can best handle workflow and editing around them, and how we can cover these issues with the appropriate knowledge, care, and sensitivity they deserve.

Internally, this has been a learning experience for everyone involved. In trying to bring several people together on edits, we suffered from “too many cooks,” and were not successful in addressing the issue quickly. To those hurt by our reporting on this topic, we deeply apologize and will endeavor to win back your trust.

—Editor-in-Chief Ken Fisher and Managing Editor Eric Bangeman