Twitter Ad Sales Chief Leaves Company As Musk Team Woos Skittish Advertisers

Twitter's advertising chief, Sarah Personette, tweeted on Tuesday that she resigned last week, following an exodus of nearly the entire senior ranks, adding to advertisers' uncertainty over how the social media company will change under Elon Musk.

Personette, who was chief customer officer, follows executives including former Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, whom Musk fired last week.

Chief People and Diversity Officer Dalana Brand announced on Tuesday in a LinkedIn post that she had resigned last week as well. General manager for core technologies Nick Caldwell confirmed his departure on Twitter, changing his profile bio to "former Twitter exec" by Monday night.

Personette, Caldwell and Brand did not respond to requests for comment.

Musk's team is meeting with advertisers this week in New York, as the company's increasingly skittish customers raise alarms about the potential for harmful content to appear next to their ads.

A coalition of more than 40 advocacy organizations including the NAACP and Free Press sent an open letter to Twitter's top 20 advertisers on Tuesday, asking them to pull their ads if Musk guts content moderation on the platform.

Mediabrands, a unit of ad holding company IPG, has advised its clients to pause advertising on Twitter for the next week until the company gives more details about its plans to protect trust and safety on the platform, according to a source familiar with the matter.

IPG works with major advertisers like Coca-Cola, American Express and Johnson & Johnson. The IPG recommendation to advertisers was first reported by Morning Brew.

Jason Calacanis, an angel investor and Musk confidant working on Twitter, on Monday said Twitter was having "a very productive day" meeting with marketers and advertisers.

The advertiser meetings could help brands decide whether to stick around or abandon the platform because of divisive and vitriolic content.

Musk has attempted to reassure advertisers. "Twitter's commitment to brand safety is unchanged," he tweeted on Monday. He previously said he would reverse Twitter's ban on former U.S. President Donald Trump, who was kicked off because of concerns he could incite further violence after the U.S. Capitol riot last year.

Experts have said hateful content has skyrocketed since Musk closed his acquisition of Twitter last week.

Use of the n-word has increased by nearly 500% on Twitter, said the Network Contagion Research Institute on Friday, which identifies "cyber-social threats."