X reorganizes trust and safety team under Musk and CEO Yaccarino

The team, responsible for content moderation, has been a focus of criticism since Musk’s takeover of the company once known as Twitter.

Linda Yaccarino speaks onstage during Seat At The Table on March 23, 2022 in New York City, US
X CEO Linda Yaccarino will share oversight of the trust and safety team with Elon Musk [File: Cindy Ord/Getty Images via AFP]

X owner Elon Musk and Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino will both oversee the trust and safety team at the company formerly known as Twitter, the social media platform says.

X’s product and engineering team will report to Musk while Yaccarino will oversee all other divisions, including human resources, legal, finance, sales and operations, X said on Monday.

The trust and safety team, which is responsible for content moderation, has been a focus of criticism of the platform after Musk acquired the company in October. Researchers have accused X of relaxing content guard rails, leading to a spike in harmful posts. The company has said the majority of content views are of “healthy” posts.

In an email to X employees sent on Monday and shared with the Reuters news agency, Yaccarino said the company is searching for a new leader for brand safety and suitability.

The previous head of brand safety, AJ Brown, who worked on efforts to prevent advertisements from appearing next to unsuitable content, left the company last month.

Yaccarino said in the email that three X leaders will oversee different responsibilities within trust and safety, including law enforcement operations and threat disruptions.

The changes to trust and safety come after Ella Irwin resigned as head of the team in June.

Source: Reuters