Twitter engineering chief exits after DeSantis campaign launch glitches

Twitter’s engineering chief, Foad Dabiri, has announced his departure from the company just a day after technical issues plagued the launch of Ron DeSantis’ US presidential campaign on the platform. Dabiri, who served as the engineering lead for Twitter’s Growth organization, tweeted about his decision to leave after almost four years with the company.

During the event, a Twitter livestream malfunctioned, causing the launch of DeSantis’ bid for the Republican presidential nomination to be delayed by 20 minutes. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Twitter users left the platform. DeSantis, the Florida governor, is considered former President Donald Trump’s main rival for their party’s candidacy in the 2024 general election.

Dabiri did not reveal the reason for his departure, nor did he confirm whether it was connected to the technical issues during the DeSantis event. In a tweet, he stated that working with Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter for US$44bn in October, had been “highly educational” and “enlightening.”

Since Musk took over Twitter, the workforce has been reduced by over 80%, from nearly 8,000 employees to around 1,500. This included layoffs of engineers responsible for the site’s operations and technical troubleshooting.

Following the technical difficulties, DeSantis’ team quickly attempted to spin the situation, claiming on Twitter that the announcement had “broken the internet with so much excitement” and sharing a link to the campaign website. Press secretary Bryan Griffin stated that the online event had raised US$1m within an hour. At its peak, the Twitter event attracted more than 600,000 listeners; however, by the end, fewer than 300,000 remained. Once the live stream started, DeSantis focused on discussing his conservative credentials and his handling of the Covid-19 crisis in Florida, which has been praised by many Republicans.