Twitter decided to change the structure of its organization after former security chief Peiter “Mudge” Zatko accused the company of poor security and bot problems. Reuters reports that Twitter is combining its health experience team, which is responsible for fighting misinformation and malicious content on the website, with a service team. The latter checks profiles when they are reported and removes spam accounts. The combined group will be called Health Products and Services (HPS).
Ella Irwin, who joined the company in June and previously worked at Amazon and Google, will lead the group. Reuters reports that Irwin sent out a memo to employees saying that HPS will “ruthlessly prioritize” its projects. “We need teams to focus on specific problems, working together as one team and no longer operating in silos,” Irwin wrote.
A Twitter spokesperson told Reuters in a statement that the reshuffle “reflects [the company’s] continued commitment to prioritize, and focus [its] teams in pursuit of [its] goals.” The source also told the news organization that the harmful and toxic content teams have seen a large exodus of employees recently. Merging the two teams may be the best way to ensure that all important roles are filled in the future.
This news appeared after it was revealed that Zatko had filed a complaint against his former employer. In it, he claimed that Twitter has “extreme, egregious deficiencies” when it comes to security and that it prioritized user growth over cleaning up spam. Shortly after The Washington Post reported on Zatko’s complaint, which also raises national security concerns, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle announced that they were looking into his claims.
