Linda Yaccarino announced her resignation as X CEO After Two Turbulent Years Marked by Controversy and Internal Upheaval [Image by The New York Times]
(The Post News)- Linda Yaccarino, the embattled chief executive of X (formerly Twitter), announced on Wednesday that she is stepping down, ending a chaotic two-year tenure at Elon Musk’s struggling social media firm.
In a tweet on X, the 61-year-old executive wrote, “When @elonmusk and I first spoke about his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to complete the incredible mission of this company. I’m forever grateful to him for entrusting me with the mandate to protect free speech, turn the company around, and transform X into the Everything App.”.
Yaccarino did not provide the reasons for her resignation, but she is leaving at a time when there are growing controversies, including with Grok, a chatbot AI developed by Musk’s artificial intelligence firm xAI, which assumed X earlier this year. On Tuesday, Grok posted antisemitic tweets — including praise for Hitler and Holocaust-themed rhetoric — which prompted X to shut off the chatbot’s response ability and issue a public apology.
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Those familiar with the situation say Yaccarino had already informed staff she was going before the Grok incident, but the timing underscores the ongoing instability within the company.
Yaccarino joined X in May 2023, after a tenure as NBCUniversal’s head of advertising. Tasked with reviving the platform’s ad business and public reputation, she entered a tough role at a company still reeling from Musk’s chaotic $44 billion takeover. Musk had slashed employees by 75%, ripped up content moderation, and turned X into a polarizing platform for political debate.
While she was credited with helping to restore large advertisers reportedly over 96% of the largest spending brands never returned to pre-Musk levels her efforts were consistently undermined by Musk’s erratic behavior, including a now-infamous public tweet to advertisers last year: “Go f— yourself.”.
She got a lot of advertisers back on the platform because she was so relentless,” said Lou Paskalis, CEO of AJL Advisory and a veteran of the industry. “But they didn’t come back at the same levels, and that was extremely unlikely with Elon behaving the way he was.
Yaccarino’s departure comes after a dramatic shift in Musk’s business empire. In March, Musk folded X into xAI in an all-stock deal that valued the platform at $33 billion and xAI at $80 billion. The merger blurred the lines between X and Musk’s fledgling AI ambitions like Grok, which was an instant lightning rod for controversy.
During a May staff meeting, Yaccarino reportedly talked about how X and xAI would be more completely integrated, which meant the platform’s future was increasingly tied to Musk’s AI pursuits. But critics say that change has come at the cost of moderation and content safety.
Earlier this year, the site faced renewed criticism for not doing enough to combat child sexual abuse content. X was also left by nonprofit safety partner Thorn because of unpaid bills. Despite Yaccarino’s public assurance that he would make user safety a top priority — especially for children — the site has been unable to meet basic compliance standards.
Though Musk replied to Yaccarino’s resignation post with a simple “Thank you for your contributions,” others in the company were reportedly caught off guard, including her own son, Matt Madrazo, who works at X selling political ads. “So that’s awkward,” he was reported to have said while appearing at the New York office on Wednesday morning.
Yaccarino’s critics argue her role was figurehead, since she was frequently left to defend decisions she did not appear to have authority over. Musk actively undermined her at various moments, such as when she met with the Anti-Defamation League to talk about hate speech, only for Musk to engage publicly with far-right users hashtagging #BanTheADL.
Still, Yaccarino was an outspoken and public defender of X, regularly using her own handle to post favorable messages and gloss over crises. Her exit, however, constitutes a wholesale disassembly of X’s executive structure, with Musk re-exerting control and doubling down on his AI aspirations.
Yaccarino’s departure raises questions about who — if anyone — will replace her. Musk has not yet named a successor. The billionaire, in recent months, has indicated refocused attention on X, xAI, Tesla, and SpaceX following the collapse of his political alliance with President Donald Trump.
Yaccarino’s legacy is both resilient and contentious. While she led X through some of its darkest corporate moments, her exit illustrates the limits of leadership under Elon Musk’s shadow, where even high-ranking executives can only do so much.
Whether X can stabilize itself amidst mounting scrutiny, advertiser skepticism, and mounting ethical alarm is an open question as Musk presses on with his AI ambitions and vision for an “everything app” — now without the partner who played a key role in pitching that vision to the world
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