Twitter’s head of brand safety and ad quality to leave -source

By Sheila Dang

(Reuters) – Twitter’s head of brand safety and ad quality, A.J. Brown, has decided to leave the company, according to a source familiar with the matter on Friday, the second safety leader to depart in a matter of days.

The latest departure adds to a growing challenge for new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, even before she steps into the role.

On Thursday, Ella Irwin told Reuters that she resigned from her role as vice president of product for trust and safety at the social media company, where she oversaw content moderation efforts and often responded to users with questions about suspended accounts.

Brown worked on efforts to prevent ads from appearing next to unsuitable content.

Platformer and the Wall Street Journal earlier reported Brown’s departure.

Since Tesla CEO Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October, the platform has struggled to retain advertisers, who were wary about the placement of their ads after the company laid off thousands of employees.

Musk’s hiring of Yaccarino, former ad chief at Comcast’s NBCUniversal, signaled that ad sales remained a priority for Twitter even as it works to grow subscription revenue.

Twitter and Brown did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru and Sheila Dang in Dallas; Editing by Maju Samuel and Marguerita Choy)