After only two years on the job, Linda Yaccarino announced on X Wednesday that she is stepping down as CEO of Elon Musk’s social media platform. Musk hired Yaccarino to run X in 2023.
“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,” Yaccarino posted. “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.”
Yaccarino’s post did not indicate why she was leaving.
Yaccarino’s departure comes as X has been plagued by criticism of its right-wing partisan politics and growing antagonistic tone. Meanwhile, Musk himself has also been highly criticized for his role in gutting a number of U.S. federal agencies in the name of efficiency through his brainchild, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) resulting in Tesla’s stock tanking, Tesla Takedowns boycotts, and his own plummeting ratings.
The news comes days after Musk’s artificial intelligence platform Grok faced backlash for antisemitic and offensive posts. (X users shared Grok posts that used the phrase “every damn time” in response to Jewish surnames, which has been seen as an antisemitic meme, as well as screenshots of it openly praising Hitler.) Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI built Grok, and then integrated it into the X platform.
In response, the Anti-Defamation League responded on X that Grok “is irresponsible, dangerous and antisemitic, plain and simple.”
“This supercharging of extremist rhetoric will only amplify and encourage the antisemitism that is already surging on X and many other platforms,” it also wrote. On Wednesday, it added, “In this moment, tech companies need to be leaning forward to fight antisemitism and extremism. Instead, many are taking huge steps back. ADL data shows that when social media platforms make cuts to moderation tools, an explosion of antisemitism follows.”
Fast Company has reached out to X for comment on Yaccarino’s departure, as well as the Grok backlash.
