Somini Sengupta reports:
Alex MacGillivray, Twitter’s chief lawyer and the Internet industry’s most prominent champion of free speech rights, announced on Friday that he would step down from his post, as the company expands its global footprint and prepares for a widely anticipated public offering sometime next year.
The company announced the appointment of a new general counsel, Vijaya Gadde, who had managed the company’s corporate affairs for the last two years. Mr. MacGillivray, who is better known as AMac, said he would continue in an advisory role.
Read more on the New York Times. Alex blogged about his decision on his personal blog.
Not surprisingly, privacy and free speech advocates on Twitter were shocked by the news and the tributes to @amac’s leadership and staunch defense of users’ rights started pouring in. His shoes will tough ones to fill.
PogoWasRight.org wishes his successor, @vijaya, the best of luck and equal determination in protecting users’ rights. And I wish @amac the best of everything in whatever he decides to pursue next. When the history of free speech on the Internet is written decades from now, Twitter will play a large part, thanks to Alex.