Foad Dabiri, resigns as Twitter’s head of engineering a day after botched attempt to launch Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign

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Twitter’s head of engineering, Foad Dabiri, has announced his resignation a day after the platform’s botched attempt to launch Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign on May 25.

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 work ‘challenging’, with plenty of ‘outside noise’, but put a positive spin on the situation, saying he had learned enormously from the experience.

He did not reveal details 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 hot mic 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.’

Dabiri studied for a Ph.D. in computer science at the University of California Los Angeles, and joined Google in 2011.

In 2014 he started health tech company Wanda, stepping down as CEO in April 2019. He joined Twitter three months later.

He said working there had been a remarkable experience.

‘Twitter is a place that defies comprehension,’ he wrote.

‘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.

‘So kudos to the team that, despite all the outside noise, keep going and going strong.’