Gigi Hadid deletes Twitter account, says it's becoming a 'cesspool of hate, bigotry'

Supermodel Gigi Hadid took to her official Instagram handle on Friday to announce that she is no longer using her Twitter account and has decided to quit the micro-blogging platform as it's no longer a "safe place" for anyone. Her move came days after Elon Musk purchased the platform for $44 billion.

The 27-year-old supermodel even called the social media platform a "cesspool of hate and bigotry" as she announced her exit from Twitter.

"For a long time, but especially with its new leadership," Gigi wrote. "It's becoming more and more of a cesspool of hate & bigotry, and its not a place I want to be a part of. (sic)"

Gigi also apologised to her fans on the platform and shared that she "loved connecting" with them "for a decade".

"I can't stay it's a safe place for anyone, nor a social platform that will do more good than harm," she further added.

With her statement, Gigi also attached Human Rights Counsel Shannon Raj Singh's tweet about being laid off from the tech giant. Shannon's post read, "Yesterday was my last day at Twitter: the entire Human Rights team has been cut from the company. 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 & crises including Ethiopia."

Other than Gigi, several prominent personalities have decided to quit the platform, including Sara Bareilles, Toni Braxton, Mick Foley and Shonda Rhimes.

Twitter fired roughly half of its workforce on November 4 with an email to staff explaining the cuts were "necessary to ensure the company's success moving forward".

A handful of employees moved quickly to file a class action lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco on behalf of Twitter workers. The paperwork alleged that Twitter is letting go of staff without adequate notice, in violation of California and federal employment law. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification act, or WARN, requires at least a 60-day notice before conducting mass layoffs.

Defending his decision, Musk, who announced that he'll charge $8 a month for verified users who have a blue tick, said that "there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day".

The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla further explained that anyone who "exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50 per cent more than legally required".