Linda Yaccarino took to social media X to reshare a post for standing up and fighting for free speech hours after she stepped down as the CEO of Elon Musk’s X. “The fight continues….,” Linda posted, resharing a post from Mike Benz, a former official with the US Department of State.The post said: “Linda stood up and fought for free speech during arguably its most acute crisis moment in world history when we were almost on the brink of losing it. She stepped up for all of us in the face of what seemed like insurmountable pressure from governments, advertisers, boycotters, banking institutions, and astroturfed lynch mobs. Thank Linda for her service and excited for her next chapter!”Yaccarino was hired by Musk in May 2023 after he had taken over the platform, formerly known as Twitter, in late 2022. Mark asserted that at the time that Yaccarino would mainly focus on business operations while he would look after product design and new technology.“Being the CEO of X was always going to be a tough job, and Yaccarino lasted in the role longer than many expected. Faced with a mercurial owner who never fully stepped away from the helm and continued to use the platform as his personal megaphone, Yaccarino had to try to run the business while also regularly putting out fires,” commented Emarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg, as reported by AP. “The only thing that’s surprising about Linda Yaccarino’s resignation is that it didn’t come sooner,” said Mike Proulx, the Forrester research director. “It was clear from the start that she was being set up to fail by a limited scope as the company’s chief executive,” he added. Musk “is and always has been at the helm of X. And that made Linda X’s CEO in title only, which is a very tough position to be in, especially for someone of Linda’s talents,” Proulx said.Linda announced her resignation on X on a positive note. “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. I’m incredibly proud of the X team – the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable,” her post read.Yaccarino’s future at X grew uncertain earlier this year after Musk merged the platform with his AI venture, xAI. Advertising challenges have persisted, as many companies scaled back spending which was X’s primary revenue source, amid concerns that looser content moderation under Musk has allowed hateful and toxic speech to spread.Most recently, an update to Grok triggered a wave of antisemitic responses from the chatbot, including praise for Adolf Hitler.Yaccarino did not publicly comment on the controversy regarding hate speech on X.
