Twitter’s security chief resigns over Elon Musk’s ‘deep concern’

A senior Twitter security official resigned Thursday as a revamp of the platform under new owner Elon Musk saw an increase in fake accounts, prompting a rare warning from US regulators.

“I’ve made the difficult decision to leave Twitter,” wrote Director of Security Leah Kesner, who is said to have handed over the job alongside senior privacy or security executives.

The layoffs came a day after the chaotic rollout of the new features it introduced Musk after buying $44 billion for the social network🇧🇷

The platform has introduced its long-awaited Twitter Blue subscription service, which allows users to pay $7.99 per month for a blue certificate indicating that the account has been verified, as well as an exclusive gray “official” badge for some high-end accounts.

but the A billion slammed when he dropped the Gray Seal almost instantlycasting a shadow over the launch of the payment service, which is currently only available on the iPhone mobile app and in the US.

The launch also brought a wave of fake accounts: some users took the opportunity to impersonate celebrities and politicians, such as NBA star LeBron James or former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The chaos led to a rare alert from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US authority that oversees consumer safety, that it placed Twitter on scrutiny for past security and privacy violations.

“We are following recent developments on Twitter with deep concern,” an FTC spokesperson said in a statement.

“No director or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decisions,” the spokesperson added, referring to Twitter’s previous commitments to comply with US privacy regulations.

Head of Tesla and SpaceX Half of the company’s 7,500 California employees are laid off A week ago, ten days after the platform was purchased and turned into its sole owner.

For the first time since the layoff, Musk on Thursday addressed the rest of his staff and asked them to help the site reach one billion users, according to text messages from employees seen by AFP.

He also announced that he was ending Twitter’s work-from-home policy, which was a widespread practice at the San Francisco-based company.

“If you don’t show up to the office, your resignation will be accepted,” Musk told employees.