Top executives at Twitter have resigned from the social media company amid Elon Musk’s chaotic, disorganized takeover.
Chief information security officer Lea Kissner announced their departure in a tweet on Thursday. Sources close to Twitter said chief compliance officer Marianne Fogarty also resigned, as did chief privacy officer Damien Kieran, per the Washington Post.
The employees left just after Musk, the new CEO of Twitter, sent a company-wide email that warned of “difficult times ahead.” He has since implemented a mandatory return-to-work policy as well.
The development has sparked concern from the Federal Trade Commission, as reported by NBC News.
“We are tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern,” said an FTC spokesperson. “No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees. Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them.”
If Twitter is found to not be complying with the FTC’s consent order, which requires the platform to reach certain privacy and security requirements, the company could be fined hundreds of millions of dollars. In Musk’s email sent on Wednesday, he told all employees they must return to office to work 40 hours a week effective on Thursday.
“Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn,” Musk said in the email, which stressed his desire to charge users $7.99 for verification. “We need roughly half our revenue to be subscriptions.”
The new Twitter Blue subscription, which gives a blue checkmark to anyone willing to pay for it, has already been notably abused by people impersonating others.
In a Twitter thread shared on Thursday, Platformer manager editor Zoë Schiffer revealed that Musk called a company-wide meeting following the departures. He gave staff just a one-hour notice, and he turned up late. He cautioned employees that if they can “physically make it to an office” but don’t, then he’ll consider it a resignation. He also cautioned that “bankruptcy isn’t out of the question.”
That $44 billion acquisition sure hasn’t paid off for Musk so far.
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