Former Apple PR executive Natalie Kerris leaves Twitter after six months

Ex-Apple public relations maven Natalie Kerris is departing her position as the vice president of communications of microblogging service Twitter after only six months in the role, for unknown reasons.

"During her time leading communications at Twitter, Natalie helped us share the Twitter story with the world," the social networking service said in a statement, confirming Kerris' departure. "We are grateful for her energy and enthusiasm and the impact she's had, even in this short time."

Twitter has come under fire for how it handles harassment on the platform. A general hands-off corporate approach to handling abusive users appears to be just now tightening up, with the permanent ban handed out to frequent terms of service violator Milo Yiannopoulos.

The service has only recently loosened requirements on how users can create a verified account, which adds extra safeguards against account theft by assailants.

Shortly after Steve Dowling was named as Apple's head of public relations, Kerris retired from Apple in April 2015, after 14 years of service. She had overseen PR efforts for iPhones, iPods, iPads, iTunes, and the MacBook Air, and assisted on Apple Pay and Apple Watch efforts.

Kerris was hired in February by Twitter, after founder Jack Dorsey's return to the company. Dorsey re-staffed the company after an exodus of key management positions in engineering, human resources, and media.

In the wake of Kerris' departure, Twitter's chief marketing officer Leslie Berland will lead both communications and marketing.