Elon Musk's X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has named a new head of safety nine months after the last executive to hold the position departed from the social media company.
X said that company veteran Kylie McRoberts will oversee the global safety team. The platform also announced that Yale Cohen, who previously worked for media firm Publicis Media, would become head of brand safety and advertiser solutions.
The last executive heading what was formerly called the trust and safety team, Ella Irwin, left the company in June 2023. While Irwin did not point to specific reasoning at the time, her resignation arrived just days after Musk publicly complained about the platform's handling of posts about transgender topics.
Since Musk's $44 billion purchase of the platform in October 2022, X has seen several leadership shakeups.
The appointments, first announced Tuesday, arrive amid ongoing concerns about content moderation on X as well as the spread of misinformation and hate speech on the platform, which some researchers say has been on the rise under Musk.
The issue has driven away some big-name advertisers. In November, brands including IBM, NBCUniversal and its parent company Comcast, said that they stopped advertising on X after a report from the liberal advocacy group Media Matters said their ads were appearing alongside material praising Nazis. It was yet another setback as X tries to win back big brands and their ad dollars, X's main source of revenue.
Later that month, Musk went on an expletive-ridden rant in response to companies that had halted spending on X in response to antisemitic and other hateful material, accusing them of "blackmail" and, using a profanity, essentially told them to go away.
Beyond advertiser battles, X has also attempted to some sue those who have documented the proliferation of hate speech on the platform — including Media Matters and the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate. A federal judge dismissed the suit against the center last week, ruling that X cannot seek damages for the independent acts of third parties based on the nonprofit's reports, or its "speech."
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More