A day after Twitter's botched attempt to launch Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign on May 25, the company's head of engineering, Foad Dabiri, announced his resignation.
"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 set Twitter apart," Dabiri said in a tweet.
Musk's October purchase of Twitter had made work 'challenging', with plenty of 'outside noise', but he put a positive spin on the situation, saying he had learned a lot from the experience.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify this news development.
His reasons for leaving were not explained in detail.
Twitter was unable to live stream the audio of DeSantis's campaign launch and a hot mic discussion with Twitter's owner Elon Musk due to a tech glitch, according to a report by Dailymail. The Twitter debacle left Dabiri highly embarrassed.
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, the report added.
CNN reported that in the beginning, 500,000 people tried to listen, but by the time the event started, only half remained online.
An extensive thread was posted by Dabiri thanking his colleagues for their friendship and work.
"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," he added.
In 2011, Dabiri joined Google after earning a PhD in computer science from the University of California Los Angeles. He founded the health tech company Wanda in 2014 and stepped down as its CEO in April 2019. Three months later, he joined Twitter.
"Twitter is a place that defies comprehension," Dabiri tweeted, expressing his incredible experience during his stint at the company. "It's unique, peculiar, remarkable, and resilient, all thanks to the brilliant and capable individuals who have built and continue to shape it. It's impossible to grasp the inner workings of this platform and what goes on on a daily basis unless you've been fortunate enough to experience it firsthand."
Musk has not commented on the departure yet.
Musk had claimed DeSantis's campaign would be revolutionary when it was launched on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern.
However, Twitter's servers repeatedly crashed due to heavy traffic. Moderator David Sacks said so many people were trying to listen that it was "melting the internet."
At 6:30 pm, the audio ceased, and DeSantis had not spoken a word yet. Approximately 10 minutes later, they restarted, and Sacks commended DeSantis for 'breaking the internet,' while Musk expressed his appreciation for the absence of 'canned speeches and teleprompters - it's real.'
The online community responded with widespread mockery and ridicule.
"Who here thinks #DeSantis would have been better off launching on Disney streaming? #Fail," tweeted one, referencing DeSantis's struggle with the entertainment company.
According to CNN, Twitter's technology - its Spaces platform - was not designed to handle hundreds of thousands of listeners.
Former Twitter employees familiar with its development described Spaces as a "prototype" and "janky" tool.
"Spaces was largely a prototype, not a finished product," a former Twitter employee told CNN.
"It's a beta test that never ended," the report added.
Interestingly, Musk decided to take the mockery to his stride, and even join the bandwagon of mockers.
"It's the top story on the planet today," the 51-year-old mogul wrote around 10 pm on May 24.
