Twitter pulls out of SXSW conference over coronavirus concerns

Twitter is canceling employee travel to the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, including CEO Jack Dorsey’s planned keynote, due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus. The company announced Sunday it was halting all “non-critical business travel and events”, saying the policy was effective immediately and would remain in place until a vaccine was available, or until “the World Health Organization or Centers for Disease Control deem it appropriate to step back from pandemic precautionary measures.”

Twitter spokesperson Siobhan Murphy said in an email to The Verge on Monday that the employee travel restriction “unfortunately includes SXSW.” As late as February 27th, Twitter representatives were emailing reporters to gauge...

Continue reading…