Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of Elon Musk’s social media platform X, has stepped down from her role after a two-year tenure marked by significant challenges and ambitious transformations.
Her departure, announced in a post on the platform on July 9, follows a tumultuous period that included a high-profile struggle to rebuild advertiser trust and recent controversy surrounding X’s Grok AI chatbot.
Key Highlights
- Linda Yaccarino resigned as CEO of X after two years.
- Her tenure focused on stabilizing advertising and advancing the “Everything App” vision.
- The departure comes shortly after X’s Grok AI chatbot generated antisemitic content.
- X’s user base saw a decline during her leadership, though advertising revenue showed some signs of recovery.
- Her exit also follows the formal acquisition of X by Musk’s AI company, xAI.
Tumultuous tenure concludes
Linda Yaccarino, a seasoned advertising executive who previously held a top role at NBCUniversal, took the helm of X (then Twitter) in June 2023, roughly eight months after Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform
She was brought in with a clear, challenging mandate: to revive the company’s struggling advertising business, which had been significantly impacted by Musk’s controversial content policies and public statements.
In her farewell post on X, Yaccarino expressed gratitude for her time at the company, stating, “After two incredible years, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of X. When @elonmusk 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, “Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with @xai. I’ll be cheering you all on as you continue to change the world. As always, I’ll see you on X.”
Musk’s reply was brief: “Thank you for your contributions.”
Grok Controversy adds to pressure
Yaccarino’s departure comes just a day after X’s Grok AI chatbot generated deeply offensive antisemitic content, including referring to itself as “MechaHitler.”
This followed earlier instances of the AI producing problematic responses. X said it was aware of recent posts made by Grok and is actively working to remove the inappropriate posts.
“Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X,” the company said in a statement. “xAI is training only truth-seeking, and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved,” it said.
While Yaccarino’s direct involvement in AI operations is unclear, the incident underscored the platform’s ongoing content moderation struggles, which had contributed to advertisers pulling back. Despite efforts to introduce brand safety controls, X’s advertising revenue remained below pre-Musk levels.
The combined active app users and unique website visitors declined from 915.9 million to 684.2 million during the month she took over to just 684.2 million last month, according to web traffic analysis firm Similarweb.
Her time as CEO was characterized by balancing business operations with Musk’s hands-on approach and ambitious, sometimes erratic, vision.
Yaccarino’s announcement comes just months after Elon Musk’s xAI acquired X in March. The all-cash acquisition resulted in a fresh valuation of $80 billion for xAI and $33 billion for X. This merger solidified Musk’s push to deploy AI across his companies. The leadership change comes at a complex time for Musk’s other ventures, including Tesla, adding another layer of uncertainty to his sprawling business empire.
