Gigi Hadid has quit Twitter
(Picture: ES Composite)Gigi Hadid has quit Twitter, branding the social-media site “a cesspool of hate and bigotry”.
The 27-year-old supermodel is one of many celebrities who have bid farewell to the platform in the wake of Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover.
Taking to Instagram, Hadid informed her fans that she had “deactivated” her account as she criticised the micro-blogging site’s “new leadership”.
She penned: “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 part of.”
The runway star said she could no longer say the site “will do more good than harm”.
Celebrities, including producer Shonda Rhimes, actor Tea Loni, as well as singers Sara Bareilles and Toni Braxton, bowed out after Musk took over.
Hadid is not the only famous face to raise concerns about the direction the site will take now Tesla boss Musk has taken over, with its founder, Jack Dorsey, also criticising his vision for the platform’s future.
The two men got into a war of words after Musk said Twitter’s “mission” was to be “by far the most accurate source of information about the world”. When Dorsey asked “accurate to who?”, Musk said that would be “judged by the people of Twitter”.
His predecessor then told him making the site “more informative” was “a far better goal”.
Musk has said his much-criticised plans to charge $8 (£4.30) a month to users with verified accounts is in part an attempt to combat misinformation.
The verification system is currently designed to help users identify authentic and influential users on the platform, including government figures, athletes, entertainment stars, and journalists, as well as brands and organisations.
Musk also warned any account impersonating another will be banned unless it clearly states it is a parody. It comes after a spate of users changed their Twitter names to “Elon Musk”.
Musk’s acquisition of the firm has caused concern given his previous support for loosening content moderation and reversing bans on accounts, potentially including Donald Trump.
He also fuelled concerns Twitter may become a hotspot for hate speech and misinformation after tweeting a link to conspiracy theories about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
