Ella Irwin, Twitter's head of trust and safety, reportedly offered her resignation from the social media firm on Thursday in the aftermath of a debacle that saw Twitter agree to and then promptly renege on a deal to carry 'What Is A Woman?' by The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh.
According to Reuters, Twitter has faced "criticism for lax protections against harmful content," ever since Elon Musk purchased the company in October, promising advances in freedom of speech. Irwin, the outlet explained, joined Twitter in mid-2022 and stepped into the role heading up the trust and safety team in November of last year after the resignation of Yoel Roth. Irwin's area of oversight was in content moderation.
Axios reported that Irwin's resignation followed a public rebuke from Musk over the content moderation decision to break a content deal recently inked with The Daily Wire to distribute Walsh's controversial exposé exploring the world of so-called "gender-affirming care."
Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing posted a lengthy thread to Twitter outlining the platform's sudden and poorly explained 'about-face' writing, "Twitter canceled a deal with @realdailywire to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform because of two instances of “misgendering.” I’m not kidding." Musk answered the thread stating that the move was "a mistake by many people at Twitter."
He wrote in full, "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 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."
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2023This 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…
Under Musk's ownership, Twitter removed prohibitions on so-called 'misgendering' and 'deadnaming' but kept provisions against "directly" attacking other people "on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease," according to Axios.
Elon Musk has since pinned the full presentation of 'What Is A Woman?' to his Twitter profile, with the caption "Every parent should watch this," giving it potentially the largest spotlight on the platform. As of this report, the documentary has gained over 122 million views.
Every parent should watch this https://t.co/pIp6UP6vq8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023