Ever since Elon Musk took over Twitter last month, some major figures have decided to quit the social media platform altogether. And now supermodel Gigi Hadid is set to follow suit.
Hadid’s fans might have been left feeling a little confused if they searched for her account on Twitter on the weekend to no avail. That’s because on Sunday (6 November) the 27-year-old announced via Instagram that she had deactivated her account, while taking a swipe at the ‘new leadership’.
Amid mass layoffs at the hands of the new owner, including the human rights team, and reports that the use of the N-word increased by 500 percent after Musk’s $44 billion takeover, Hadid called the platform a ‘cesspool of hate & bigotry.’
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Sharing her thoughts on Instagram, Hadid said: “I deactivated my Twitter account today. For a long time, but especially with its new leadership, it’s becoming more and more of a cesspool of hate & bigotry and it’s not a place I want to be a part of.”
The mum-of-one also directed a touching message to her fans who will surely miss interacting with the star on the social media platform. “Only sorry to the fans,” she went on. “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.”
Accompanying the statement was a screenshot of a tweet shared by former Twitter Human Rights Counsel Shannon Singh, who revealed her team was let go on Friday (4 November).
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“Yesterday was my last day at Twitter: the entire Human Rights. Team has been cut from the company,” Singh’s tweet reads.
“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.”
An email to Twitter staff explained the cuts were ‘necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward’.
Hadid is not alone in walking away from the app. Singer Toni Braxton said she feels the site is no longer a safe space for herself, her sons, or other people of colour. “I’m shocked and appalled at some of the ‘free speech’ I’ve seen on this platform since its acquisition. Hate speech under the veil of ‘free speech’ is unacceptable; therefore I am choosing to stay off Twitter as it is no longer a safe space for myself, my sons and other POC,” she said last month.
Shonda Rhimes, Sara Bareilles and Téa Leona bid farewell to the bird in October as well.
Gregory Robinson