Supermodel Gigi Hadid has joined the growing list of celebrities that have deleted their Twitter accounts following Elon Musk's acquisition of the platform.
On Saturday, Hadid took to her Instagram Stories to let her fans know the reason behind her decision, stating that due to "new leadership", she could not bring herself to stay.
"I deactivated my Twitter today," the 27-year-old announced. "For a long time, but especially with its new leadership, it's becoming more of a cesspool of hate and bigotry, and [it's] not a place I want to be a part of."
She apologized to the fans that she was able to connect with using her account adding that it's not "safe" for anyone anymore.
Alongside the caption, the runway model also re-posted a tweet by Shannon Raj Singh who used to work for Twitter as part of the Human Rights Board.
After Musk's takeover, the entire department was fired, but that didn't stop Singh from being grateful for the work that she and her team managed to deliver.
"I am enormously proud of the work we did to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights, to protect those at-risk in global conflicts and crises including Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, and to defend the needs of those particularly at risk of human rights abuse by virtue of their social media presence, such as journalists and human rights defenders..." Raj Singh wrote.
Hadid joins a growing list of celebs that have recently deleted their accounts including screenwriter Shona Rhimes, Grammy-winning singer Sara Bareilles, RnB star Toni Braxton, producer Ken Olin, and former WWE wrestler Mick Foley.
The news comes after Elon Musk acquired the social media platform in a $44 billion deal last week.
Twitter's new self-proclaimed "Chief Twit" first started buying shares in the business back in January 2022 and by April, he became the highest shareholder with 9.1% ownership.
In late October, he acquired the platform completely and announced some major changes.
But despite Musk's intention to make Twitter a platform for free speech, the social media platform reportedly saw a massive spike in users tweeting the N-word, as well as other hateful slurs against minority groups as a way of utilizing the new policy.
According to further research, tweets that involved hate speech were 4.7-times higher than usual, averaging approximately 398 an hour with a potential reach of 3 million.
Researchers also added that there was an increase in negative sentiment, with more than 67% of the tweets sent after Musk's takeover having a negative tone.
The South-African entrepreneur also announced that he would be introducing an $8 premium for users who wish to be verified on the platform, writing: "Twitter’s current lords and peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is b*******.
"Power to the people! Blue for $8/month."
This subscription includes 'exclusive' features, such as the ability to post longer videos and audio posts.
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