Former Twitter head of trust and safety Yoel Roth has left his home, according to a new report.
CNN reported Monday that, based on information from a source it did not name, Roth had gone into some level of hiding after threats emerged due to what CNN called “Elon Musk’s campaign of criticism against him.”
In taking up Roth’s cause, The Washington Post wrote, “The online mob also sent threats to people Roth had replied to on Twitter, forcing some of Roth’s family and friends to delete their Twitter accounts, according to a person familiar with Roth’s situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to concerns about Roth’s safety.”
Others said Roth is reaping what he sowed.
Yoel Roth fleeing his home due to threats is ironic after he refused to take down doxxing of conservatives on Twitter.
— Harrison (@HarrisonKrank) December 13, 2022
This was the man that had complete authority of what went out on Twitter. He flagged your tweets as misinformation, hate speech, or simply took them down if he didn’t like them. #YoelRoth #TwitterFiles pic.twitter.com/mVOa90NI8F
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) December 14, 2022
The CNN report said Roth was already dealing with escalated levels of threats due to material revealed in the “Twitter Files.” The “Twitter Files” is a project undertaken by Musk to highlight internal decision-making at Twitter as it related to muzzling opinions and banning Trump.
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Over the past week, Roth has also emerged as the prime mover in banning former President Donald Trump from Twitter in 2021, with internal documents released through the “Twitter Files,” indicating Roth was ready, willing, and able to bend the rules to the breaking point to accomplish his goal of banning Trump.
Roth’s response hints at how Twitter would justify deviating from its longstanding policy. “To put a different spin on it: policy is one part of the system of how Twitter works… we ran into the world changing faster than we were able to either adapt the product or the policy.” pic.twitter.com/wGMvuoS7u3
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) December 11, 2022
On Saturday, Roth’s 2016 dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania, titled, “Gay Data,” emerged from the shadows, with Musk questioning the implications of one section, according to Fox News.
In a Twitter post, Musk highlighted a section in which Roth wrote that apps such as Grindr should consider “crafting safety strategies that can accommodate a wide variety of use cases,” including for younger populations.
This explains a lot
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2022
Looks like Yoel is arguing in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services in his PhD thesis: pic.twitter.com/1NiBohjhMQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2022
“Looks like Yoel is arguing in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services in his PhD thesis,” Musk tweeted, having told a Twitter user who shared a comment about Roth, “This explains a lot.”
Musk initially supported Roth after he bought Twitter, but the luster soon faded and Roth resigned in November.
Twitter’s “Trust & Safety” under @yoyoel actively forced us to lie to be on the platform. We could be suspended for stating a trans suspect’s legal name, that individual’s biological sex, & inconvenient demographic facts. Watch my @KennedyNation interview: https://t.co/3dIdq6VRyE pic.twitter.com/xVQFqKUGNI
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) December 13, 2022
On Monday, Twitter dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, according to The Washington Post.
