Getty
- A former Twitter exec said "homophobic and antisemitic" harassment forced him to sell his home.
- Yoel Roth testified to Congress that the release of Elon Musk's "Twitter Files" harmed former staff.
- He said junior employees and staff in other countries were "doxxed" and "threatened."
A former Twitter executive testified that he was forced to leave and sell his home, after the release of Elon Musk's "Twitter Files" resulted in a barrage of homophobic and antisemitic abuse.
Yoel Roth, Twitter's former head of trust and safety, testified before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday in a hearing about protecting speech from government interference and social media bias, a recording of his testimony reviewed by Insider showed.
During a lengthy hearing related to Twitter's handling with the Hunter Biden laptop story, Roth was asked how the release of Elon Musk's Twitter Files had affected his personal safety.
He began by saying that the "Twitter Files" also affected more junior employees at Twitter, and that staff as far away as the Philippines were "doxxed, had their families threatened, and experienced harm equal to or greater than what I've experienced."
He added: "But concurrent with the 'Twitter Files,' Elon Musk also made the decision to share a defamatory allegation that I support or condone pedophilia and this lie led directly to a wave of homophobic and antisemitic threats and harassment against me of which Twitter has removed vanishingly little.
"And following the Daily Mail's decision to publish where I live, ultimately I had to leave my home and sell it. Those are the consequences for this type of online harassment and speech."
It was previously reported in December 2022 that Roth and his partner had left their home in California. On December 12, MailOnline reported the location of Roth's home and its rough value.
The "Twitter Files" are a series of tweets released under Musk's leadership about "free speech suppression" on the platform under its previous management. Musk accused Roth and other execs of being a part of a secret group that made controversial decisions about limiting the reach of certain accounts without former CEO Jack Dorsey's approval.
Roth was questioned by Congress alongside other ex-staff including former chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde and former deputy general counsel James Baker.
Twitter and Roth did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment about his statements, sent outside
Musk smeared Roth in December by baselessly claiming that he supports the sexualization of children. Musk posted an excerpt of Roth's PhD dissertation about "Gay Data" and misconstrued the contents of the paper saying: "Looks like Yoel is arguing in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services in his PhD thesis."
Roth quit shortly after Musk's takeover in October over clashes about issues like letting banned right-wing figures such as Donald Trump return to the platform.
In a New York Times op-ed at the time, Roth wrote: "A Twitter whose policies are defined by edict has little need for a trust and safety function dedicated to its principled development."