Linda Yaccarino is indignant.
Not at Elon Musk, the person who employed her to be the CEO of Twitter, the corporate he subsequently renamed X. Yaccarino says he’s a superb chief who is popping his firm into one thing that has extra ambition than “every other firm probably on earth.”
As a substitute, Yaccarino is livid that my colleagues at Vox Media introduced a last-minute programming replace earlier than her on-stage interview on the firm’s Code Convention: They’d additionally host a session that includes Yoel Roth, the previous head of belief and security at Twitter who resigned shortly after Musk purchased the corporate final yr.
In his interview with Code co-founder Kara Swisher, Roth recounted the story of his departure from Twitter — specializing in a tweet Musk wrote that wrongly accused him of pedophilia — and the way that pressured him to depart his residence and worry for his security.
He additionally questioned Twitter/X’s claims that hate speech had dramatically declined on the firm beneath Musk’s possession, and warned Yaccarino that she might in the future face Musk’s wrath: “Have a look at what your boss did to me,” he mentioned, when Swisher requested him to supply recommendation to Yaccarino. “It occurred to me. It occurred after he sung my praises publicly.”
Apologies for the lengthy meta-backstory. (Whereas we’re at it, I’ll disclose that I carried out two interviews at Code this yr however wasn’t concerned in every other speaker bookings.) However you want it to grasp the set-up for the combative tone Yaccarino dropped at the stage. It’s additionally a bit embarrassing for a author to jot down this however: you’ll need to watch the video of this when it’s accessible to get the entire gestalt.
The rationale any of this issues is that Yaccarino, a veteran TV promoting govt, lengthy accustomed to creating persuasive pitches on behalf of her shoppers, is now making an attempt to do the identical for Musk. However convincing the world that Elon Musk — or no less than the model of Elon Musk who owns Twitter — is somebody they need to spend money on, financially, emotionally, and in any other case, is a a lot completely different activity than getting them to purchase NBC’s fall TV line-up. And Wednesday’s look suggests simply how completely different that activity shall be. In Yaccarino’s earlier life, for starters, she’s by no means needed to signify somebody who’s feuding with a Jewish anti-hate group.
On to the substance of the interview: Chances are you’ll be beneath the impression, partly due to reporting in regards to the firm, and partly due to Musk’s personal commentary on his platform, that since Musk purchased Twitter, customers and advertisers have fled and that the location has seen a spike in hateful content material. You may additionally imagine that, though Musk employed Yaccarino to be CEO of the corporate — a transfer he primarily leaked whereas she was getting ready to provide a serious promoting presentation at NBCUniversal, her final employer, and earlier than she had advised NBCU execs about her plans — it’s not an actual CEO job as a result of Musk nonetheless controls main elements of the corporate. And likewise as a result of Musk doesn’t appear able to restraining himself from tweeting issues like his perception that the Anti-Defamation League has a vendetta towards him.
None of these items are true, Yaccarino defined to interviewer Julia Boorstin on the Code Convention. Some excerpts from her interview:
On the well being of Twitter’s platform beneath Musk: She repeated earlier claims that the corporate now has greater than 540 million customers — greater than double than the person base Musk cited final November. “While you take a look at the size of time spent, engagement on X, the important thing metrics are trending very, very positively,” she mentioned.
On Twitter’s monetary standing: Whereas Musk has beforehand mentioned greater than 60 % of Twitter’s US promoting had vanished since he purchased the corporate, Yaccarino mentioned giant and small advertisers at the moment are returning since she arrived on the job. “Why are they returning? They’re returning due to the ability and significance of the platform,” she mentioned.
Yaccarino additionally mentioned that opposite to Musk’s earlier solutions that Twitter was in peril of chapter, issues had bounced again. “From an working money stream perspective, we’re nearly break-even,” she mentioned, and projected that the corporate could be worthwhile early subsequent yr.
On Yaccarino’s place within the firm and in Musk’s eyes: She mentioned that she and Musk “discuss every little thing,” together with his lately floated plan to transform Twitter from a free service to 1 that may require all customers to pay, and that it was solely proper for him to tweet the way in which he’d like. “The muse of X relies on free expression and freedom of speech,” Yaccarino defined. “Everybody has the chance to talk their opinion. Together with Elon.”
Yaccarino additionally dismissed the concept that her energy was diminished by Musk’s management of the tech firm’s product. “Who wouldn’t need Elon Musk sitting by their aspect working product?” she requested the viewers.
And in reference to Musk’s erratic nature and tendency to slide into “demon mode” — a phrase that surfaced within the new Musk biography by Walter Isaacson — she mentioned she has but to see that. “While you get impressed and pushed by Elon Musk, you do the issues that you just’d suppose have been by no means usually doable,” she mentioned. “I’ve been there 12 weeks. I’m nonetheless considerably in awe of his availability to me.”
On Twitter previous to Musk’s possession: Yaccarino, like Musk, mentioned that whereas she preferred Twitter and had beforehand partnered with the corporate when she ran promoting at NBCUniversal, it was a deeply flawed firm. “Twitter on the time was working on a unique algorithm … completely different philosophies and completely different ideologies, [it was] creeping down the street of censorship,” she mentioned. Musk’s new firm, she repeated a couple of occasions, “is a brand new firm, constructing a basis based mostly on free expression and free speech.”
Once more, you’ll need to watch the video for this one. It’s fairly one thing.
Does any of this matter relating to the way forward for Twitter beneath Musk, and Yaccarino’s tenure there? There’s no approach of figuring out. Yaccarino has deep ties with the promoting enterprise, and there are nonetheless many individuals within the business hoping she will return Twitter to one thing they’ll spend (some) cash on. Possibly that may occur. Notice, for instance, this current public hug from the pinnacle of the NFL’s media operation, a vital Twitter associate:
However watching Yaccarino’s look on stage additionally jogged my memory of the Trump administration, when members of Trump’s circle would go on TV figuring out that their major mission was to please the president, who was famously glued to TV information. If Elon Musk sees Wednesday’s occasion, he’ll see, at a minimal, that his CEO is blissful to share her displeasure with a media firm in a public discussion board. Possibly he’ll like that?