The platform X of Elon Musk announced today that it is hiring a new head of security as it comes under constant scrutiny for spreading hate speech, conspiracy theories and other controversial content.
Kylie McRoberts, a nearly four-year veteran of the company formerly known as Twitter, takes over oversight of the company's global security team. In addition, he is working to establish a new security center in Austin, Texas. This takeover was announced by CEO, Linda Yaccarino, in January.
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McRoberts' assumption of the role comes nine months after the resignation of the company's previous head of security, Ella Irwin. Irwin oversaw the team then called Trust and Safety, but resigned after just seven months. Roth, who had succeeded Irwin, resigned a few weeks after acquisition from Musk.
After Musk took over, X waived security measures, reinstated the accounts of white supremacists and other rule-breakers, and refused to delete racist content.
X Company announced Tuesday that it has named Yale Cohen, a former Publicis Media executive, as chief security officer of brand and advertising solutions. Cohen's hire is part of X's effort to encourage advertisers to return to the platform while maintaining proper security.
Both new leaders may face the same challenge Yaccarino faced in reviving the X brand. Musk has caused controversy because of Use X to promote radical, far-right conspiracy theories such as "Pizzagate" and the racist Great Replacement theory.
In its statement, X cited McRoberts as having worked on the company's previous insurance features, including tags that alert the user to content restrictions. Going forward, her team will be tasked with creating new products, tools and features to protect the platform and community, maintain security policies and improve methodology and enforcement, X said.
Yaccarino presented to the Senate in January the security measures of X, accompanied by other social media company directors. In a document submitted after the hearing, he revealed that X has about 2,300 employees dedicated to content security and moderation, though it's unclear whether they are all full-time.
McRoberts previously worked in privacy and cybersecurity positions at Google, including efforts to secure web browsing. Her background suggests an evolving perspective on "security" at X, focusing less on content preservation, which Musk was opposed to.
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In a post last month, Musk announced the name change of X's "Trust and Safety" team to simply "Safety."
Musk said: "Any organisation that adds the word 'Trust' to its name cannot be trusted, as this is obviously a form of censorship. We are renaming our team from Trust & Safety to simply @Safety. Trust is gained. The goal of the Safety team is to ensure compliance with existing laws for protection of the people."
Source: edition.cnn
