Linda Yaccarino has stepped down as the CEO of X, Elon Musk’s social media platform which was formerly known as Twitter.
“After two incredible years, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of 𝕏,” Yaccarino posted on, predictably, X. “When Elon Musk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App,” she added.
“I’m incredibly proud of the X team – the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable. We started with the critical early work necessary to prioritize the safety of our users—especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence. This team has worked relentlessly from groundbreaking innovations like Community Notes, and, soon, X Money to bringing the most iconic voices and content to the platform,” she said.
“Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with @xai . X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world’s most powerful culture signal. We couldn’t have achieved that without the support of our users, business partners, and the most innovative team in the world. I’ll be cheering you all on as you continue to change the world. As always, I’ll see you on 𝕏,” she said.
Yaccarino had led the company at a tumultuous time, which had seen an advertiser boycott of the platform. Yaccarino had used her media contacts to get advertisers back, and X had also sued some advertisers who’d banded together to boycott the platform. As a result, X had brought back many of its advertisers, which were the biggest source of revenue for the company.
Under her leadership, X implemented several changes. The company began selling blue check marks, which was a way for creators to subscribe to the platform. X also began giving generous payouts to popular accounts. X also implemented a public-led Community Notes, which was largely seen as a big success in fighting misinformation.
However, Yaccarino’s exit comes a day after a big controversy had hit X. xAI’s chatbot Grok had appeared to go rouge yesterday, and had shared several anti-semitic viewpoints, while appearing to admire Hitler. Grok had to be shut down after an apology by the company. It’s unclear at this time if Yaccarino’s exit is related to the Grok fiasco. We’ll update this article if we know more about the situation.