JAKARTA - Twitter Inc's public policy chief has left the company amid additional layoffs at the unit on Thursday, December 22, as Elon Musk continues to cut operational costs. This is known through a leaked source to Reuters.
Sinead McSweeney, global vice president for public policy, decided to withdraw from Twitter. McSweeney's departure has never been reported before.
The layoffs and departure of a high-level leader came as regulators around the world questioned Twitter's content moderation efforts and user data protection after Musk cut staff from more than 7,000 to just under 2,000.
A public policy team is responsible for interacting with lawmakers and civil society on various issues including free speech, privacy and online security.
It handles requests from governments and civil rights groups to remove problematic content and establish rules to protect vulnerable users. With fewer staff, backlogs can increase and some policies in development can be ignored, a source said.
Nick Pickles, senior director of global public policy strategies, has taken over the role of McSweeney, the source said. But McSweeney, Pickles, Musk and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
Last month, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton told Musk that the microblogging platform faces "major work ahead" to comply with EU regulations on content moderation, removing disinformation, and limiting targeted advertising.
The European Union will conduct a "stress test" at its Twitter headquarters early next year to assess compliance with the rules.
A senior German official also said last Thursday that the EU should monitor Twitter directly because its erratic behavior under Musk threatens free speech.
One source told Reuters that half of the remaining 30 members of Twitter's public policy team were also dismissed on Wednesday, December 21. The layoff was first reported by The Information.
This week's media reports said McSweeney, based in Dublin, settled with Twitter after winning a temporary court order to stop the company from turning it off after he did not respond to an email from Musk demanding that employees approve a "hardcore" of work culture in the office or leave.
Musk said on Wednesday that Twitter is facing a "negative cash flow situation of US$3 billion (Rp 46.8 trillion)" next year and is the reason why he continues to move to cut costs aggressively.
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