Hootsuite whistle-blower leaves company, 'not my decision,’ she tweets

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The employee of Hootsuite Inc. who revealed a contentious, now-cancelled contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency says she no longer works for the Vancouver social-media management company.

Sam Anderson, who had been a product trainer at Hootsuite, wrote in a tweet on Tuesday that “I’m not sure what I can and can’t say about my departure, but I assume it’s fair to say (and also probably obvious) that it was not my decision to leave."

In late September, Ms. Anderson wrote in a series of tweets that more than 100 employees had raised objections to the contract internally, because of ICE’s alleged aggressive anti-immigration measures, including locking children in cages; forcing female detainees to have unnecessary, invasive gynecological procedures; and separating migrants from family members.

After the tweets, Hootsuite chief executive Tom Keiser said the company decided not to proceed with the contract. Though ICE said later that week that it had not been formally notified of the decision, Mr. Keiser said Hootsuite was “advancing through the necessary steps to give it formal effect as swiftly as possible.”

Hootsuite declined to confirm that Ms. Anderson had been let go from the company, citing privacy reasons.

“To protect privacy, we do not discuss details related to any employee status,” the company said in an e-mailed statement. “Hootsuite supports differences of thought and opinion within the company and firmly believes in engaging dialogue. We deeply value the trust of our employees, partners and customers. To that end we must be unequivocal in upholding our confidentiality obligations.”

Ms. Anderson did not respond to a request for comment and tweeted further that she did not expect to speak again publicly on the matter as she searched for another job. “This blew up way more than I ever could have anticipated, and received infinitely more positive attention than I expected," she wrote.

She first tweeted about the ICE contract on Sept. 23, saying it had been signed the day before. On Sept. 24, Hootsuite released a statement on Twitter attributed to Mr. Keiser that said it had decided not to proceed with the ICE contract after “a broad emotional and passionate reaction from our people."

“We have heard the lived experiences from our people and the hurt they are feeling,” the statement continued. "The decision has created a divided company, and this is not the kind of company I came to lead.”

Hootsuite provides a platform for organizations to manage social-media accounts and track trends online. Mr. Keiser is a former executive with Zendesk Inc., a California customer-service software company. He became CEO this past July, taking over for founder Ryan Holmes, who agreed to step down last November after Hootsuite’s board raised concerns about his leadership after a failed attempt to sell the company. Mr. Holmes remains the chair.

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