is X CEO Linda Yaccarino’s description of the state of her company.
CNBC interviewer Julia Boorstin had been pushing Yaccarino for hard numbers on the state of X — whether it’s growing, shrinking, turning a profit. Yaccarino said, essentially, none of that matters as long as there’s no social media equivalent to X.
Linda Yaccarino didn’t quite answer that question while onstage at Code, but she did pose a question that, frankly, feels easier to answer: “Who wouldn’t want Elon Musk sitting by their side running product?”
Julia Boorstin asked her to confirm that X would start charging users to post, as Musk floated a week ago. Yaccarino was not so sure:
We’ll have a few more videos to share as we wrap things up, so check back in for some of the key moments. And if you want all the details, read back through our StoryStream below.
There was a recurring theme to Yaccarino’s answers: she keeps defending X from statements and choices by Elon Musk.
Harassment of Yoel Roth? Linked to Musk. Advertisers fleeing the platform because of chaotic moderation decisions before she was hired? Musk. A dispute with a well-regarded nonprofit combatting anti-Semitism? Musk.
She’s surprisingly good at diffusing these questions, but you’d think that X would want to talk about literally anything other problems caused by Musk.
She didn’t dispute that some members of the team had been fired, but she said X is expanding its work to combat platform manipulation and disinformation overall.
“It’s an issue we take very seriously,” she said. “And contrary to the comments that were made, there is a robust and growing team at X that is wrapping their arms around election integrity.”
Boorstin is trying to squeeze in a last couple of questions before they wrap up.
Yaccarino says in response to the dispute between Musk and the Anti-Defamation League.
I think the implication is that she wishes the ADL — a nonprofit focused on combating anti-Semitism — would stop criticizing X for its moderation problems and calling on advertisers to abandon the platform.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt “continues to question the progress as it relates to anti-Semitism,” Yaccarino says. “It is disappointing that there is not equal time given to all the progress.”
When Boorstin asked about how the plan would impact X usage, Yaccarino asked her to clarify.
“Did he say we were moving to it specifically, or did he say that’s the plan?” she asked
Boorstin pushed her on whether they’d discussed it first. “We talk about everything,” she said. But the exchange does not, exactly, have me convinced.