Twitter's office building stands behind a traffic sign designating "no right on red" in San Francisco on Oct. 4, 2022. | Benjamin Fanjoy/The Standard
Top privacy and security executives at Twitter reportedly quit this morning amid ongoing chaos at the social network since its acquisition by Elon Musk.
Lea Kissner, Twitter's Chief Information Security Officer, confirmed their departure in a tweet on Thursday morning. Twitter’s chief compliance officer, Marianne Fogarty, and chief privacy officer, Damien Kieran, also reportedly resigned on Wednesday evening, according to The Platformer's Casey Newton.
I've made the hard decision to leave Twitter. I've had the opportunity to work with amazing people and I'm so proud of the privacy, security, and IT teams and the work we've done.
I'm looking forward to figuring out what's next, starting with my reviews for @USENIXSecurity 😁
The latest departures follow a mass layoff just days ago, which affected close to half of the company's total employees. Twitter notified the state that 784 employees at its Mid-Market San Francisco headquarters will be officially let go as of January 2023.
In a statement, the Federal Trade Commission said it was “tracking the developments at Twitter with deep concern.”
The commission entered into an agreement, called a consent decree, with the company following allegations that it improperly used emails and phone numbers it collected for security purposes for ad targeting.
“No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees,” said an FTC spokesperson. "Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them.”
The FTC isn't the only federal entity scrutinizing Musk's acquisition of Twitter.
On Wednesday, President Biden said at a press conference that Musk's financing of the deal is "worthy of being looked at" on national security grounds.
To raise money funds for the $44 billion acquisition, Musk tapped foreign investors including the Saudi royal Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, prompting Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who leads a foreign relations Senate subcommittee, to call for a review of the deal.
