Neetzan Zimmerman has reportedly left his job as editor-in-chief of the secrets-sharing app Whisper, a year after he joined the social network.
The 33-year-old journalist, who moved to Whisper’s headquarters in Los Angeles in January 2014, confirmed his departure to Capital New York, the local media and politics website reported on Wednesday. Neither Zimmerman nor Whisper immediately replied to separate requests for comment from the Guardian for this article.
On Wednesday, Zimmerman resumed posting to his Twitter feed @neetzan after a 10-week interlude. His Twitter profile listed his occupation as “Formerly EIC @Whisper”.
Zimmerman’s last tweet before Wednesday was in October, shortly after he and at least one other Whisper staff member were placed on leave by Michael Heyward, the company’s co-founder and CEO. In a statement at the time, Heyward said the leaves of absence were made pending an internal review into the way the company protects the consumer privacy of its users. In a statement provided to Capital New York, Heyward said, “We conducted an internal review that found no wrongdoing. Nevertheless Neetzan is no longer with the company. We wish him well in the future and can’t wait to see what he does next.”
The privacy issue was the subject of a series of Guardian articles, the veracity of which the company has disputed.
In his previous role as an editor at the news and gossip website Gawker, Zimmerman had a reputation for understanding what made content on the internet go viral. In 2013, a Wall Street Journal profile described him as possibly “the most popular blogger working on the web today”.
