The first four truths you should know

Embattled Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey stepped down as CEO on Monday. Effective immediately, chief technology officer Parag Agrawal was promoted to become the new CEO of Twitter.

“I decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from the founders,” Dorsey said in a cryptic statement, according to CNBC.

Dorsey also said in an email that he knows Agrawal will lead the company “for a while given how deeply he understands the company and its needs.”

Here are the first four facts you need to know about Dorsey’s handpicked successor.

Parag Agrawal is a longtime Twitter employee

Congratulations to our alumni, Dr. Parag Agrawal on being appointed as the new CEO of Twitter. Dr. Agrawal got https://t.co/KI2VMHsUbi. Degree in Engineering and Computer Science from IIT Bombay in 2005. He started at Twitter in 2011 and became CTO in 2017.#iitb pic.twitter.com/A0yt37pfUR

– IIT Bombay (@iitbombay) November 30, 2021

Agrawal joins staff for the first time at Twitter more than a decade ago, CNBC reported. During his time with the company, he oversaw many projects aimed at personalizing user timelines.

Dorsey also tasked Agrawal with finding someone to lead an initiative called Project Bluesky. CNBC says the project is supposed to “give users more control over the content they watch,” as well as help social media platforms enforce hate speech restrictions. .

In 2017, Agrawal was named the CTO of Twitter. He held that position until his promotion on Monday.

He’s a public Trump critic

While the former President Donald Trump During his tenure, the American Civil Liberties Union filed more than 400 lawsuits against him, according to a New information posted. In at least one of those cases, Agrawal donated to the organization with the express purpose of supporting a lawsuit against Trump.

In a tweet in January 2017, successful investor and entrepreneur Chris Sacca said he would be donating to the ACLU to support suing Trump.

NS @aclu take Trump to court. Let’s stand with them. Respond with a donation receipt from today and I’ll pair it up to $25k. https://t.co/0uiQPpQsyH

– Chris Sacca (@sacca) January 28, 2017

In response to that tweet, Agrawal posted a photo of his receipt from his donation to the ACLU.

“Donate only to @ACLU,” he said. “Inspired by your fit, thanks. As an immigrant, I have always believed that this country is better than this.”

.@sacca Donate only to @ACLU. Inspired by your fit, thanks. As an immigrant, I have always believed that this country is better than this. pic.twitter.com/zenDEpyTdY

– Parag Agrawal (@paraga) January 28, 2017

Agrawal also indicated in a separate tweet that he agrees with Dorsey’s explanation for banning Trump from Twitter, which shows that Trump or his followers perpetuated “threats to physical safety both on and off Twitter.”

👇 https://t.co/dk6ljXuQJH

– Parag Agrawal (@paraga) January 14, 2021

He came under fire for another Tweet

After Twitter announced Agrawal as its new CEO, Twitter users started going through his old tweets. While many people did not question his views on Trump, a tweet about race was received backlash.

“If they don’t distinguish between Muslims and extremists, then why should I distinguish between whites and racists,” Agrawal tweeted in October 2010.

“If they don’t distinguish between Muslims and extremists, then why should I distinguish between whites and racists?”

– Parag Agrawal (@paraga) October 26, 2010

Follow Judge Washington, Agrawal then explained that he was quoting actor Asif Mandvi while appearing on “The Daily Show”. That didn’t stop many social media users from expressing their anger over the original tweet.

Here’s Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s new CEO and who will decide what kind of speech is allowed on Twitter: https://t.co/W4HYeNSxlf

– Senator Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) November 29, 2021

This is the new CEO of Twitter. Things are going to get worse here with @jack No more. https://t.co/hYz79SKKCQ

– Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 29, 2021

So the new CEO of Twitter is a racist. Why am I not surprised? https://t.co/KHFVx3CZGc

– Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) November 29, 2021

Parag Agrawal is 37 years old

At 37 years old, Agrawal is currently the youngest CEO of an S&P 500 company, Bloomberg reported.

#ThankYouJack pic.twitter.com/zDwtHXltg3

– Parag Agrawal (@paraga) November 30, 2021

Agrawal was born in 1984, the same year as the CEO of Meta Platforms, Inc. Mark Zuckerberg.

Twitter’s Parag Agrawal at 37 just became the youngest CEO in the S&P 500 – pushing Zuckerberg, born in 1984, to second youngest https://t.co/JhV8Rs9KmE

– Bloomberg (@business) November 30, 2021

While Twitter declined to provide Agrawal’s exact date of birth due to safety concerns, Bloomberg reported that he was born later than Zuckerberg’s birthday, May 14.

After he took power at such a young age, it remains to be seen where Agrawal will take the social media giant once he settles down as Twitter’s new CEO.