X CEO Linda Yaccarino is stepping down after two years

Linda Yaccarino is stepping down as CEO of X, apparently effective immediately. She posted the news, naturally, on X, saying “I’m immensely grateful to [Elon Musk] for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App.” She went on to say that “the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable.” Reasonable minds can differ on if any of those things have happened.

Among the many changes that have come to X since Yaccarino took over are decreased moderation, a greater reliance on “community notes” that aren’t properly doing what they’re intended to do and, most recently, an AI bot that spouts antisemitic hatespeech.

She’s also been really mad about a report from watchdog group Media Matters that caused a major advertiser pullback on X a few years ago. She claimed somehow that companies deciding not to run ads on a toxic platform amounted to a “free speech” issue. Later in the saga, X sued advertisers including Mars, Unilever and CVS Health for an “illegal boycott,” another example of her staunch commitment to free speech.

More recently, Media Matters sued the FTC, saying that the organization was unfairly targeting it for its criticism of X; this comes after the FTC launched an investigation into Media Matters to determine if the group illegally colluded with advertisers. Naturally, this all happened while X owner Elon Musk was working closely with the federal government.

AI is a big part of X’s quest to become whatever the hell an “everything app” is, but another big part of it is X Money, which is supposedly launching in partnership with Visa later this year. But Grok (and AI more broadly) is probably the biggest current initiative at the company, one that has been mired in controversy almost from the start. In addition to this week’s antisemitic rants, Grok has also talked up a supposed “white genocide” in South Africa and also misled potential voters in the lead-up to the 2024 US presidential election.

Whoever takes the position from Yaccarino clearly will have a tough act to follow, but there’s no word on any potential successor yet. Musk has yet to comment on Yaccarino’s departure, either.