Elon Musk’s X said Tuesday it was appointing two new employees to oversee safety on the platform, as it seeks to rebuild relationships with the advertising industry and trust among users.
The social media app said that Kylie McRoberts, an existing X employee, was being promoted to head of safety and that Yale Cohen, an executive vice president at advertising and public relations firm Publicis Media, was joining X as head of brand safety and advertiser solutions.
McRoberts is the first announced safety head at X in 10 months — a period that covers more than half of Musk’s ownership.
X’s advertising business has had a rocky 18 months since Musk bought the company formerly known as Twitter. In November, Musk sparked an advertiser exodus when he embraced an antisemitic conspiracy theory by calling it “the actual truth.” He then accused advertisers of trying to “blackmail” him and publicly cursed at them at a New York business summit.
As of February, 75 out of the top 100 U.S. advertisers on X from October 2022 had ceased ad spending on the platform, according to Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm.
X has also faced criticism for the safety of users on X during Musk’s tenure. Musk eliminated the jobs of many people who worked on content moderation and reinstated the accounts of some white supremacists and other extremists. He also disbanded Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council, a group of 12 outside experts who advised the company on subjects including fighting child exploitation material.
Many members of vulnerable groups such as the LGBTQ community have said that X has become toxic under Musk, with harassment and bullying largely unchecked.
Last month, Musk announced that he was dropping the word “trust” from X’s trust and safety team, saying that the word “is obviously a euphemism for censorship.” The term “trust and safety” is used throughout the tech industry as an umbrella term that includes content moderation and…
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