According to sources familiar with the situation, Twitter Inc.’s head of public policy has left the organization as it continues to cut costs under the direction of billionaire owner Elon Musk. According to two sources, Twitter’s worldwide vice president for public policy, Sinead McSweeney, has resigned. The departure of McSweeney has not previously been announced.
The layoffs and departures of high-ranking leaders come as regulators around the globe question Twitter’s content moderation work and protection of user data after Musk cut the staff from more than 7,000 to under 2,000.
The EU will perform a “stress test” at Twitter’s corporate headquarters
The public policy team is in charge of communicating with legislators and members of the public on matters including free speech, privacy, and internet safety. It responded to requests for the removal of objectionable content made by governments and civil rights organizations and establishes regulations to safeguard vulnerable users. One of the insiders warned that with fewer employees, backlogs would grow and some policies still under construction might be disregarded. According to the two sources, Nick Pickles, senior director for global public policy strategy, has taken over McSweeney’s position.
Requests for comment from McSweeney, Pickles, Musk, and Twitter were not immediately fulfilled. Thierry Breton, a commissioner for the European Union, informed Musk last month that the platform has “major work” ahead of it to adhere to European rules on content moderation, eliminating misinformation, and restricting tailored advertising. Early in the next year, the EU will perform a “stress test” at Twitter’s corporate headquarters to gauge compliance.
