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TWITTER HAS CONFIRMED that two senior executives are heading for the exit and it has paused most hiring, as Elon Musk stands poised to become the global messaging platform’s new owner.
Kayvon Beykpour, a general manager who leads research, design and engineering at Twitter, is leaving along with head of products Bruce Falck, a Twitter spokesperson told AFP.
Beykpour however said he was ousted from the San Francisco-based tech company.
“The truth is that this isn’t how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn’t my decision,” Beykpour, who is on paternity leave, said in a tweet.
Twitter chief Parag Agrawal “asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction,” he added.
Twitter also confirmed that, effective this week, it is pausing all hiring except for business-critical roles.
Musk’s $44-billion deal to buy Twitter was announced last month but still needs the backing of shareholders and regulators.
The takeover is expected to close later in 2022, with Musk – who runs space exploration endeavor SpaceX and electric automaker Tesla – stepping in as its boss at least for a little while.
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Musk is on record saying he would lift the ban Twitter slapped on Donald Trump, contending that kicking the former US president off the platform “alienated a large part of the country.”
Musk’s endorsement of a Trump return triggered fears among activists that Musk would “open the floodgates of hate.”
Trump has stated publicly he would not come back to Twitter if permitted, sticking instead with his own social network, Truth Social, which has failed to gain traction.
Trump was booted from Twitter and other online platforms after supporters, fired up by his tweets and speech alleging election fraud, attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in a deadly bid to stop Joe Biden from being certified as winner of the presidential election two months earlier.
Musk reasoned that permanent bans at Twitter should be rare, and reserved for accounts that are spam, scams or run by software “bots.”
Activist groups have called on Twitter advertisers to boycott the service if it opens the gates to abusive and misinformative posts with Musk as its owner.
The fate of Twitter’s top attorney, deemed a moral champion of the platform, has been in doubt since Musk tweeted displeasure with content moderation she had carried out.
The lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, has led efforts to battle bullying and posts that could lead to real-world harm such as the US Capitol riot.
She was involved in the decision to ban Trump, and others including removing political advertising from the app.
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@Thunder Snowman: the problem in Ireland with names is that masses of people have the same surnames. Eg hickey.. Kelly.. Murphy etc so by giving out popular names like John.. Jack. Mary
It makes it near impossible to trace old friends or contacts.. As. There’s billions of john murphys. Sean Brennan.. Parents are loath to be more creative. Such as elvis.. Johan.. Or non saints names..
The more popular the name the less likely I’d pick it. Poor child would end up with loads others in the school having the same name and end up being called by their surname instead of their given name.
Yes, exactly. Also at work. I remember two colleagues having the same first, last and middle name and our manager asking them to pick a way to tell them apart for paging and payroll purposes. It’s awkward enough. In the 80s I got cheques made out to various versions, Fitzpatrick, Fitzsimon, you name it, and had to have them reissued. The more unusual the name, the better.
@Johnny B: Exactly. I was born in 1954, The ‘Marian year’ .. in Tipperary. Practically every girl in my class was called Marian Ryan ha. Thank goodness for my late mother’s independent thinking!
@Fiona Fitzgerald: I worked in sales at a company once where there were four Mark,s. When the fourth one came on board he was asked to answer the phone as John. Naturally what followed was hilarious as the poor lad had to adjust to not using a name he’d used all his life.
@Johnny B: Unusual names sentence your child to a lifetime of being asked to spell or repeat their name. I am variously called Colin, Donal, Colm, Connell etc and my name is not that exotic.
@Ricky: Lovely name, but if you have to spell a name, and then tell people how to pronounce it, it’s a bit awkward. I suspect he’ll end up being called George by everyone else.
@Fandandi: it’s impossible to trace old friends in Ireland because of all the Jack’s. John’s.. Sean’s. Murphys.. Hickeys etc. Its like tracing win wing woos in China.
@rice water: Dymphna is hardly over the top. I wonder were there any Assumpthas born this year or any of the names that were common when John Paul II was visiting
I wanted to call my daughter Emma but was nervous that she would be one of 10 or so girls called Emma in her school. For a while I considered Éabha instead purely because it was less popular. Anyway, I called her Emma and she ended up being the only Emma in the entire school. There was another Éabha in her class though. Just go with the name you like, your child will have it for life.
I’d always be inclined towards fairly plain names. I just could never imagine Nevaeh-Lily – Rose being taken very seriously as a presidential candidate, for example
Our twins boy+girl were born in 2014.stayed away from the popular names and tried to pick something totally different and in hunter and raven I think we succeeded.
I’m teaching 13 years and have one Emily in my class, 11 years ago. Two Jacks in 13 years. Think we have one Jack and one Emily in the school now in a school population of over 400 children
@Mary Josephine: it’s because there’s a bigger variety of names people are choosing from. Even though jack and Emily are the most popular, it’s still less likely they’ll be used than Catherines or Johns were 30 years ago.
I really don’t get if for example Emily is number one for 9 years how you’d add onto that list and have your kid forevermore Emily H. or Emily M. Or whatever in a class full of Emilys! But I’m obviously in the minority! I say this as someone who had 4 or 5 of same name in my class all my life and hated it.
@Sinead Mooney: Pick a name you like, nevermind whether it is no.1 or no.99 on the list. Picking a name based on the popularity is silly, yes there may end up been three or four in their class at school, but what does that matter! School is for a few years, a name is for life!
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