Palestinian-American supermodel Gigi Hadid announced that she was quitting the social media platform Twitter, calling it "a cesspool of hate and bigotry," marking that particularly its "new leadership" after it was acquired by Elon Musk was one of the factors in the decision.
The supermodel shared on her Instagram that she no longer wanted to be a part of Twitter and that her feelings toward the platform were not new as she also cited safety concerns.
"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 (and) bigotry, and (it's) not a place I want to be a part of," Hadid wrote.
"Only sorry for the fans, who I've loved connecting with for a decade via Twitter but I can't say it's a safe space for anyone, nor a social platform that will do more good than harm."
She accompanied the post with a tweet from Shannon Raj Singh, a former member of Twitter's human rights team, who was one of the thousands of staff members sacked by Musk last week, in which she spoke about being laid off from the tech giant.
Activists fear the job cuts and Musk's commitment to "free speech" will make it harder for Twitter to monitor racist and abusive tweets, though the billionaire has pledged that the website will not become a "free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said without consequences."
Gigi's sister, Bella, remains on the platform.
