First Ella Irwin, Twitter's second head of trust and safety under Elon Musk, resigned earlier this week. Now, two more safety executives at the company are stepping away as well, leaving many wondering what this means for the platform's future with advertisers. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal that AJ Brown, Twitter's head of brand safety and ad quality, has opted to depart, leaving the role of soothing skittish advertisers up in the air. Meanwhile, CNBC reports that Maie Aiyed, a program manager tasked with working on brand-safety partnerships, has also jumped ship.
Brown had worked directly under the supervision of Irwin, who was brought in to replace Yoel Roth as head of trust and safety last November. On Friday morning, Musk had tweeted that some of the departures were tied to Twitter's handling of What Is a Woman?, a documentary by the right-wing site Daily Wire on gender and transgender issues that "questions the logic behind a gender ideology movement that has taken aim at women and children," per the film's promotional collateral. Irwin confirmed as much to the Journal, and sources say Brown's exit was also related.
Per Engadget, Brown's exit in particular puts new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino in "an interesting spot," as she has noted previously that brand safety is a big concern for Twitter advertisers. In January, it was reported that more than 500 advertisers had paused spending on the platform since Musk took the helm last October, citing fears their promotions would land side by side with controversial content such as hate speech or disinformation. And Engadget notes that it isn't just advertisers who are raising eyebrows on how the platform is being run, and on its future—some brands and users have already ditched Twitter over Musk's content moderation. (More Twitter stories.)
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