CULTURE

Gigi Hadid is Quitting ‘Cesspool’ Twitter

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 03: Gigi Hadid is seen in Midtown on November 03, 2022 in New York Cit...
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Gigi Hadid is joining the Twitter exodus following the purchase of the social media platform by Elon Musk, the billionaire who is currently using his account to field customer service questions all day. Over the weekend, Hadid shared an Instagram Story in which she reposted the news that Twitter’s human rights team had been laid off on Friday.

One of the counsel members, Shannon Raj Singh, posted the news from their Twitter account. Singh was just one of thousands of people across multiple department who reportedly lost their jobs after Musk’s takeover.

“Yesterday was my last day at Twitter: the entire Human Rights team has been cut from the company,” Singh wrote. “I am enormously proud of the work we did to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights, to protect those at-risk in global conflicts & crises including Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, and to defend the needs of those particularly at risk of human rights abuse by virtue of their social media presence, such as journalists & human rights defenders.”

Over a screenshot of Singh’s tweet, Hadid wrote, “I deactivated my Twitter today. For a long time, but especially with its new leadership, it’s becoming more and more of a cesspool of hate and bigotry, and it’s not a place I want to be a part of.”

Gigi Hadid

She added, “Only sorry to the fans who I’ve loved connecting with for a decade via Twitter, but I can’t say it’s a safe place for anyone nor a social platform that will do more good than harm.”

Since Musk took over, many celebrities have left the platform or been banned, specifically for “impersonating” Musk with their accounts. Comedian Kathy Griffin pretended to be Elon Musk by changing her account name, but not her handle, a practice many people with verification status have taken on this week. She has been suspended, and Musk announced that any Twitter handles “engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended.”

Since then, Griffin has tweeted from her late mother’s account, writing, “#FreeKathy.”