X CEO Linda Yaccarino is stepping down after two years at the helm of Elon Musk’s social media site, which he purchased in October 2022. Musk hired Yaccarino in June of 2023 to run Twitter and rebranded it as X the following month.
Yaccarino wrote on 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.”
Elon responded, thanking her for her contributions. Yaccarino also received affirmation from many conservative, libertarian, and independent commentators, including Megyn Kelly, Michael Shellenberger, and Charlie Kirk, who credit her with guiding X through a tumultuous time, attracting advertisers back to the site while living up to Musk’s free speech commitments. Not all reactions were positive, however, Musk’s arch enemy, Steve Bannon weighed in on his show, vowing to pursue her legally wherever she went. Referring to Musk as “Elmo,” he said: “You can run, baby, but you can’t hide.”
Bannon and Musk are at war because they represent two different contingents of the MAGA base. Bannon’s faction is the stridently anti-immigrant economic populist side, and Musk represents the more libertarian, market-inclined, pro-free speech side.
They’ve been jockeying for influence over President Trump since the beginning of Trump’s second term, with each side scoring some victories and losing on other issues. Musk is currently at odds with Trump entirely, and plans to launch his own political party, the America Party. Meanwhile, Bannon’s faction is demoralized over Trump’s recent foreign policy decisions with respect to Iran and also the Epstein Files fizzle, though it should be noted that the Elon faction isn’t happy about either of those things, either. It’s actually a third, tiny little faction, the neoconservatives, who seem most pleased with how things are going. But I digress.
Recently, Musk actually accused Steve Bannon of being in the Epstein files. That’s why Bannon is going so hard against him now, threatening lawsuits and calling on Trump to deport him. Bannon said that Musk is not an American, he’s a South African. In response, Musk called Bannon a “fat drunken slob who has a lifetime of crime to pay for.”
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Let’s aside Musk vs. Bannon for a moment. When it comes to Yaccarino, I agree with Megyn Kelly, Michael Shellenberger, and company: Everybody in the MAGA movement owes Yaccarino a round of applause, not thinly-veiled threats. She accomplished a great deal. It was not easy to win advertisers back to the platform while still changing the site’s moderation policies to comport with Musk’s vision of unfettered free speech.
As former State Department official and tech policy expert Mike Benz wrote on X, “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!”
I’m with Mike, and I’m sad to see X’s CEO become the ex X CEO. But the work of protecting social media — the new town square — from the censorship continues.
Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.
