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 controversial Daily Wire documentary on transgender issues that has been labelled as transphobic by many.
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 weak.
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.
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 weak
Twitter recently pulled out of the EU's voluntary code of practice on discomformation 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.
"Twitter let us know that not only could we no longer purchase the package they offered, they would no longer provide us any support and would actually limit the reach of the film and label it as 'hateful conduct' because of 'misgendering,'" he wrote. "Specifically: In the film, a father refers to his 14-year-old daughter as 'her,' and a store owner uses the 'wrong' pronoun in a confrontation with a trans person."
Boreing said the Daily Wire reminded Twitter that misgendering was removed from its hateful conduct policy. According to Boreing, Twitter then "clarified they only removed 'misgendering' from their policy because they didn't need to be that specific, but that they still consider 'misgendering' abuse and harassment." Twitter further told the Daily Wire "that our own followers would not be able to see [the movie] in their feeds," he wrote.
Musk: “This was a mistake”
The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh posted the two documentary clips that he said were labeled hate speech. "Please note: Twitter is accusing this father of 'misgendering' his own daughter by calling her 'her,'" Walsh wrote, describing a clip of an interview with a Canadian man who said he objected to cross-sex hormones being administered to his child. In the other clip, Walsh interviewed a store owner in Aberdeen, Washington, who had a viral confrontation with a transgender member of the city council after he posted a sign at his store that read, "If you are born with a [d***], you are not a chick."
A few hours after Boreing and Walsh'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 criticed Twitterin 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."
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."
Critical reactions
One of the people Musk replied to after yesterday's controversy is vholoe cole, a teenager who detransitioned after years of taking puberty blockers and testosterone and undergoing a double mastectomy at the age of 15. A lawsuitsfiled by Cole in a California court said that doctors pushed her into a "harmful experimental treatment regimen" instead of performing the psychotherapy needed to treat her "complex mental health co-morbidities."
Cole, who is now an advocate opposing such medical interventions for minors, criticized Twitter's decision to restrict the documentary yesterday. "The 'What Is A Woman?' Documentary was a major inspiration to me to start speaking out on my detransition experience, she wrote . "How many other kids are out there waiting for that spark?!" Musk replied to Cole today, writing that the problem has been "fixed."
Even a more mixed reviewfrom Canada's National Post concluded that, "though Walsh raises some legitimate points, his film is often misleading and shallow." Walsh, it said, "seems more interested in capturing 'gotcha' moments with his interviewees, many of whom seem to have been selected because they are useful caricatures rather than deep thinkers. It's Michael Moore-style filmmaking—using bad-faith storytelling to rile up audiences while oversimplifying complex issues."
In-person demonstrations have also followed the film's showings. In April, 2023, for instance, a screening of Walsh's film at the University of Iowa was protested by demonstrators. "I have many trans people in my life that I care about and that's why I'm here today," University of Iowa student Maddie Heath said, according to the press ciyizens. "It seems so obvious to me that people should be allowed to exist and get medical treatment that they need to live their best lives. I think this hatred should not be as accepted as it is."
But for Walsh, such controversy means publicity, especially when the source of the controversy is Twitter and Musk. Today, Walsh tweeted, "It's been a wild 24 hours. It began with Twitter labeling our film hate speech and completely suppressing it, and ends with all suppression lifted and Elon Musk himself tweeting out the film and urging people to watch it. A huge win."
As for Walsh’s opponents in GLAAD, the group tweeted this weak that Musk's actions around gender issues are "making his already struggling site less safe for users and even less appealing for advertisers."
