The head of Twitter’s Chinese operations, Kathy Chen, has announced she is leaving the company, making her the first top executive to resign from the company in 2017.
Chen was hired by Twitter in April 2016 as Managing Director for Twitter’s Chinese operations, having previously worked for companies including Microsoft and Cisco. However, her credentials were immediately questioned by Chinese free speech activists after it was revealed she had previously worked for the Chinese military.
She wrote on Twitter that it was the “right time to leave the company,” following a restructuring of Twitter’s Asian operations that allows them to work directly with Chinese advertisers.
Although Twitter is currently blocked in China, many Chinese businesses still advertise on the site, and it is also popular with many Chinese dissidents living across the world.
Chen joins a long list of top Twitter executives who left the company last year. Some of the most important figures to leave included Twitter’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Adam Messinger, Chief Operating Officer (COO) Adam Bain and the company’s vice president of finance Todd Morgenfield.
As well as losing key figures in the business, Twitter also faced tumbling stock prices and political controversy throughout 2016.
You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com
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