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May 26 (UPI) -- In the wake of GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis' disastrous campaign launch on Twitter, the social media giant's chief engineer announced that he is leaving the company. Foad Dabiri announced his resignation via Twitter Thursday.
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"After almost four incredible years at Twitter, I decided to leave the nest yesterday," Dabiri tweeted.
Dabiri clarified that his decision was "independent of recent events," also saying that he had been present for "two distinct eras: pre and post M&A."
Dabiri seemingly deflected criticism from Musk, saying that "it was enlightening to see how his principles and vision are shaping the future of the company."
DeSantis had planned an official campaign kickoff and conversation with Twitter owner Musk, moderated by his associate David Sacks, beginning at 6 p.m. EDT Wednesday.
Hundreds of thousands of users had tuned in for the Spaces presentation, but when 6 p.m. rolled around, most viewers only saw a message saying, "Details not available."
"We got so many people here that we are kind of melting the servers," Sacks could be heard saying a few minutes later. Musk said, "Servers are straining somewhat."
The platform crashed multiple times for about a half hour before the Florida governor was able to kick off the event in earnest.
Musk has said he hopes Twitter could become an alternative to major cable news outlets, but the platform has faced a series of technical difficulties, massive employee cuts and a mass exodus of advertising dollars.
Afterward, the DeSantis campaign tried to put a positive spin on the debacle, saying their announcement "broke the Internet."
In a tweet, Musk said of the press coverage of the event: "I call it 'massive attention' top story on Earth today."
Democratic lawmakers were quick to mock the technical failure.
New York's Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, "We had more people join when I played [the social media multiplayer game] Among Us," in response to Sacks' contention that the DeSantis Twitter space was the largest group that "has ever met online."
