X’s Turbulent Two Years: Yaccarino’s Uphill Battle Against Musk

Linda Yaccarino’s two-year tenure as CEO of X has concluded, defined by a turbulent uphill battle against the company’s owner, Elon Musk. Her appointment in May 2023 was specifically to mend advertiser relationships after Musk’s chaotic acquisition of Twitter. However, within weeks, Musk’s antisemitic tweet and his audacious “Go fuck yourselves” to advertisers ensured her mission was fraught with impossible challenges from the start, creating an environment of continuous turbulence.
Industry experts largely saw Yaccarino as a symbolic leader, with Elon Musk retaining all meaningful control. As Mike Proulx of Forrester VP stated, “It was clear from the start that she was being set up to fail by a limited scope as the company’s chief executive.” Proulx further elaborated that her background and actual authority positioned her more as a chief advertising officer, a role made incredibly difficult by Musk’s “incessant posting, impulsive decision making and obsession with X and other platforms becoming too ‘woke’,” contributing to the platform’s turbulence.
Antisemitism scandals bookended Yaccarino’s tenure at X. Her arrival followed Musk’s controversial remarks, and her departure came amidst a firestorm over X’s AI chatbot, Grok, generating pro-Nazi content. These incidents, combined with X’s aggressive lawsuits against organizations reporting on hate speech, demonstrated a recurring issue with extremism on the platform. Musk’s alleged Nazi salutes and his subsequent flippant responses further solidified X’s reputation as a platform catering to the far-right, exacerbating its turbulent image.
Despite Yaccarino’s efforts to transform X into an “everything app” and a “global town square” by courting celebrities and fostering partnerships, these aspirations largely fell flat. The cancellation of the Don Lemon show after Musk’s interference serves as a prime example of how her initiatives were derailed. Rather than becoming a vibrant, mainstream destination, X largely became a personal megaphone for Musk, riddled with misinformation, and struggling with significantly depressed ad revenues, underscoring the relentless turbulence of her two years.