Twitter’s director of public policy has left the company amid a series of layoffs at the company, sources close to the matter told Reuters on Thursday (22).
Sinead McSweeney, vice president of global public policy, has left Twitter, according to two sources.
The layoffs and McSweeney’s departure from the company came as regulators around the world question Twitter’s job of moderating content and protecting user data.
The questions came after billionaire Elon Musk cut the social network’s staff from more than 7,000 employees to less than 2,000 after buying the company for $44 billion in a leveraged transaction.
The public policy team is responsible for engaging with legislators and civil society on issues such as freedom of expression, privacy and online safety.
The group handles requests from governments and civil rights groups to remove content deemed problematic and sets rules to protect vulnerable users. With fewer staff, delays in responding to requests could increase and some developing policies could be ignored, one of the sources said.
Nick Pickles, senior director of global public policy strategy, has taken over from McSweeney, the two sources said. McSweeney, Pickles, Musk and Twitter had no immediate comment.
Last month, European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton told Musk that the platform faces “huge work ahead” to comply with European regulations on content moderation, removal of misinformation and limiting targeted advertising.
A source told Reuters that half of the 30 remaining members of Twitter’s public policy team were cut on Wednesday, implying that 15 people had been laid off.
Media reports this week said McSweeney, who lives in Dublin, settled with Twitter after winning a court injunction to stop the company from firing her after she failed to respond to a company-wide email from Musk demanding employees to either agree to a “hardcore culture” or leave the company.
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