Twitter’s head of engineering resigns a day after platform’s disastrous launch of DeSantis’ campaign

Twitter’s head of engineering announced on Thursday that he was resigning, the day after the disastrous attempts to launch of Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign on the platform.

Foad Dabiri tweeted: ‘After almost four incredible years at Twitter, I decided to leave the nest yesterday. 

‘The combination of the fantastic community, the impact it has, and its limitless potential sets Twitter apart.’

He admitted the October purchase of Twitter by Musk had made the situation ‘challenging’, but put a positive spin on the situation, saying he had learnt enormously from the experience.

He did not go into detail about why he was leaving.

His company was left highly embarrassed by Wednesday night’s debacle, which saw Twitter unable to live-stream the audio of DeSantis’s campaign launch, and a discussion with Twitter’s owner Elon Musk and moderator David Sacks.

Musk and Sacks said the problems were due to ‘server strain’ and ‘melting the servers’, claiming that it was the largest event ever hosted online – but many pointed out that far larger events had been held without a hitch.

An initial 500,000 people logged on to try and listen, CNN reported: when the event eventually got underway, only half that number remained. 

Dabiri posted a lengthy thread, thanking his colleagues for their work and friendship.

‘What an extraordinary journey it has been,’ he wrote. 

‘To say it was challenging at the outset would be an understatement. The change was massive and rapid; we came through and emerged stronger, thanks to the remarkable team that held the fort. 

‘Working with @elonmusk has been highly educational, and it was enlightening to see how his principles and vision are shaping the future of this company.’