Balenciaga says goodbye to Twitter amid Elon Musk's takeover
Balenciaga is saying "bye-bye" to Twitter.
Several users recently noticed that the luxury fashion label no longer had an account on the platform. "Good Morning America" has confirmed that the brand will no longer maintain a Twitter account moving forward.
While the brand has chosen not to make any further statements on its decision to leave Twitter, the news comes shortly after investor Elon Musk's $44 billion buyout of the company last month.
Prior to leaving Twitter, Balenciaga's account had millions of followers.
Several other notable public figures, such as Gigi Hadid and Shonda Rhimes, have also left their Twitter accounts behind in the wake of Musk's takeover. Some have expressed disapproval of Musk's leadership, claiming his buyout was detrimental to the platform.
"I deactivated my Twitter account today," Hadid said in an Instagram story alongside a screenshot claiming Twitter's entire human rights department had been laid off. "For a long time, but especially with its new leadership, it's becoming more and more of a cesspool of hate & bigotry, and it's not a place I want to be a part of."
The screenshot featured a tweet from Twitter's former human rights counsel Shannon Raj Singh, who claimed on Nov. 4 that the company's full Human Rights team had 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, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, and to defend the needs of those, particularly at risk of human rights abuse by virtue of their social media presence, such as journalists & human rights defenders," Singh wrote at the time.
Musk's Twitter takeover has been plagued with issues since day one. In addition to backlash over Musk's decision to charge $8 for Twitter Blue subscriptions, which provide subscribers with a blue "verified" checkmark, the company has also faced internal upheaval, issuing mass layoffs, losing advertisers, and dealing with product issues that have caused some users to be locked out of their accounts, among other things. Additionally, Musk was forced to freeze new Twitter Blue subscription sign-ups after newly verified paid accounts began impersonating public figures, companies and legitimate media outlets.
The Federal Trade Commission stated last Thursday that it was "tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern."
Meanwhile, a study from Montclair State University earlier in November showed a spike in hate speech on Twitter immediately following Musk's takeover of the platform.
Balenciaga's departure comes as other advertisers face increased pressure to consider their futures on the platform, with companies such as General Motors, GM, United Airlines, General Mills, and Mondelez International Inc. pulling ads from Twitter already.
Previously, Musk had threatened "a thermonuclear name & shame" of companies leaving Twitter, however he took a markedly different stance in a conversation with advertisers last week that was broadcast on the platform using the Twitter Spaces function. According to Reuters, over 100,000 listeners tuned into the conversation.
"I understand if people want to give it a minute ... [but] the best way to see how things are evolving is just use Twitter," he said, according to the outlet.
Musk has also attempted to smooth things over on his own official Twitter account. "Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months," he tweeted on Nov. 9. "We will keep what works & change what doesn't."
Representatives for Twitter did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment for this story.
ABC News' Melanie Schmitz contributed to this story.
