X's CEO Linda Yaccarino stepping down

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Linda Yaccarino, who was hired two years ago by Elon Musk as chief executive officer of X, is stepping down less than three months after the social-media platform was absorbed by Musk’s artificial intelligence startup.

“After two incredible years, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of X,” Yaccarino said in a post on X on Wednesday. “I’ll be cheering you all on as you continue to change the world.”

The former NBCUniversal executive was hired by Musk in May 2023 after he’d already fired or lost about 75% of employees at the company known as Twitter. Over the course of her two-year tenure, Yaccarino was tasked with reversing an advertiser exodus from the platform, triggered in part by Musk’s own erratic content moderation decisions and posts.

She has since had to repeatedly defend her boss and the platform from critics who’ve pointed to a rise in violent content, antisemitism and misinformation on X, among other things.

Musk’s announcement in March that his xAI startup had acquired X at a valuation of $33 billion brought into question Yaccarino’s future at the company. The deal was widely seen as offering a resolution to X’s backers following months of uncertainty over the state of their investment.

In her X post, Yaccarino described her job as “the opportunity of a lifetime” and expressed her gratitude to Musk for “entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App.” During her time, Yaccarino said, X prioritized the safety of its users and restoring advertiser confidence.

However, the platform has continued to draw criticism and attract controversy. Less than a day ago, Musk’s xAI said it was working to remove inappropriate posts on X after its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok shared multiple antisemitic comments that triggered widespread condemnation.

A Turkey government minister on Wednesday blasted profane posts generated by Grok on X, calling them unacceptable and warning they could lead to a ban on the platform in the country. Poland this week called on the European Union to investigate xAI over abusive content after Grok made lewd comments about the country’s politicians.

Meanwhile, the European Commission is considering the first fine under the EU’s online content rulebook for alleged infractions by X before its summer recess in August.

Since xAI took over X, Bloomberg has reported that the AI startup was burning through $1 billion a month, with the cost of building advanced AI models races ahead of limited revenues. To cover the gap, the company was currently trying to raise $9.3 billion in debt and equity, Bloomberg reported last month, based on information from people briefed on the deal terms.