As Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter entered its third week and following mass layoffs, the billionaire laid bare a precarious financial future for the social media platform amid an exodus of top privacy and security executives.
Yoel Roth, the head of security and integrity tasked with publicly addressing advertiser and user concerns about the platform, is reportedly the latest to leave the company.
The departures began on the same day that Elon Musk first addressed employees and said that “bankruptcy is not out of the question,” according to multiple reports.
The day began with the resignations of three senior security officials – Chief Information Security Officer Lea Kissner, Chief Privacy Officer Damien Kieran and Chief Compliance Officer Marianne Fogarty – prompting warnings from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). (Twitter reached a settlement with the FTC over privacy issues in May.) Following those departures, Robin Wheeler, head of client solutions at Roth and Twitter, also left the company.
I made the difficult decision to leave Twitter. I’ve had the opportunity to work with amazing people and I’m so proud of the privacy, security and IT teams and the work we’ve done.
I look forward to finding out what’s next starting with my reviews for @USENIXSecurity 😁
– Lea Kissner (@LeaKissner) November 10, 2022
In an email to employees and a subsequent staff meeting, Musk did little to inspire confidence in the company’s future. In an email, Musk described the difficult economic circumstances the company found itself in and how important he felt the Twitter Blue subscription service was to its future.
“Without significant subscription revenue, there’s a good chance Twitter won’t survive the upcoming economic downturn,” Musk said in the email. “We need about half of our subscription revenue.”
An employee also said at the staff meeting that Musk appears to be downplaying employee concerns about how a reticent Twitter workforce is handling their obligations to meet privacy and data security standards.
Musk’s memo and staff meeting mirrored a livestream conversation Wednesday, in which he attempted to allay concerns from major advertisers and made his most detailed public comments on Twitter’s direction since he signed the $44 billion deal late last month completed the purchase of the platform and fired its top executives.
The departures exacerbate problems that have plagued the social media platform since Musk bought it. Musk’s acquisition and the resulting confusing back-and-forth on product launches and content moderation policies have prompted many brands, including General Mills, to pause ad buying on Twitter — a development the billionaire sought to rectify on the advertiser live stream . The duo running the live stream, Roth and Wheeler, have since left the company.
“So the two people that Elon brought to speak to advertisers to convince them to continue working with the company just quit.” tweeted Rashad Robinson, President of Color of Change. “Companies that stay with Twitter at this point will be bound by these dangerous and off-kilter policy changes.”
The company’s Twitter Blue subscription product, which launched Wednesday and allows users to purchase a verified blue tick for $8, has already resulted in various accounts being verified despite impersonating brands or notable figures. Some civil rights groups fear that a lack of clarity around content moderation policies and the unrestricted ability to buy a blue tick could lead to a scourge of hate speech and the spread of misinformation. They have asked more brands to pause their advertising on the platform.
“I’ve never seen a billionaire beg that much for your $8,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson. “Our efforts – asking companies to stop all advertising on Twitter – are clearly working. Businesses need to be held accountable, and Twitter is no exception. Hate speech and disinformation have no place anywhere.”
According to the company’s settlement with the FTC, Twitter is required to conduct privacy reviews before making any changes to its products. But in a letter sent to Slack by a lawyer for the company’s privacy team and reported by The Verge, the author says he heard the company’s chief legal officer, Alex Spiro, “say that Elon is ready to make a tremendous… Taking risks with this company and its users because ‘Elon puts rockets into space, he’s not afraid of the FTC.’” The company’s legal team is now asking engineers to “self-certify” that their functions comply with FTC rules and comply with data protection standards, according to the Verge.
In the letter, the attorney said people should take advantage of available whistleblower protection “if you’re uncomfortable with anything they’re asking you to do.”
Messages asking for comments were left on Twitter, but it’s unlikely anyone will reply as the communications department has been laid off.