Gigi Hadid has become the latest celebrity to quit Twitter after Elon Musk’s takeover.
The supermodel has announced via an Instagram story that she will be leaving the social media platform due to its ‘new leadership’.
The 27-year-old re-posted a tweet from former Twitter employee, Shannon Raj Singh, who revealed that Musk was culling the ‘entire Human Rights team’.
Hadid wrote to her 76 million followers: “I deactivated my Twitter account today.
“For a long time, but especially with its new leadership, it’s becoming more and more of a cesspool of hate & bigotry, and its [sic] not a place I want to be a part of.”
She apologised to the fans she’s communicated with through the social media platform for ‘over a decade’.
She continued: “I can’t stay it’s a safe place for anyone, nor a social platform that will do more good than harm.”
However, Hadid isn’t the only one logging off for now, as data from Bot Sentinel shows that almost one million people have deactivated their accounts since the Tesla CEO bought Twitter for USD $44 million (AUD $68.5m or £38.9).
The firm revealed that 877,000 accounts were deactivated, and a further 497,000 were suspended between October 27 to November 1.
Researchers at Montclair State University discovered that 12 hours after the SpaceX founder took ownership, Twitter became increasingly more ‘hostile’, with 4,778 hate-filled tweets.
The team saw that harmful rhetoric, including posts with the ‘n-word’, ‘k-word’ or ‘f-work’ had an ‘immediate, visible, and measurable spike'.
The New York Post also reported that Musk has fired more than 50 per cent of staff from the communications company, according to Twitter’s head of safety and integrity, Yoel Roth.
According to Euro News, on Friday (November 4), Twitter announced that it would be closing its offices temporarily after informing employees that they would receive an email later that day revealing their termination.
Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.
Musk defended his decision, saying he was left with ‘no choice’, as he had taken billions of dollars out in debt to acquire the company and couldn’t afford to lose more money.
He wrote: “Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.
“Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50 per cent more than legally required.”
LADbible has reached out to Twitter for comment.
Featured Image Credit: Pacific Press Media Production Corp./Alamy Live News. Thiago Prudencio / SOPA Images/Sipa USA/Alamy
Topics: News, Celebrity, Twitter, Elon Musk, Social Media
