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Linda Yaccarino departs as boss of Musk's X

Getty Images

Getty Images

Linda Yaccarino, the boss of Elon Musk's social media site X, has announced she is stepping down.

Ms Yaccarino has been in the role since June, 2023.

In a post on the platform, she said was "immensely grateful" to Musk for "entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App".

Musk has posted a brief reply, saying only: "Thank you for your contributions."

The BBC has approached X for comment.

Ms Yaccarino was previously head of advertising at NBCUniversal, where she was credited with helping to steer it through the upheaval caused by technology firms.

She joined X, then Twitter, at a time of tumult with advertisers quitting the site and Musk having overseen the firing of a huge number of staff.

In her departure post, she said that she had decided to step down after "two incredible years".

She added: "When Elon Musk 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."

It is not clear whether there has been any break down in their relationship since she joined in 2023.

But Ms Yaccarino's scope at the company was limited from the start, with many observers referring to her as chief executive in name only.

"Her background and actual authority positioned her more as the company's chief advertising officer, rather than its CEO. The reality is that Elon Musk is and always has been at the helm of X," said Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at Forrester.

"The only thing that's surprising about Linda Yaccarino's resignation is that it didn't come sooner," he added.

The platform's tone changed significantly during the course of Yaccarino's tenure.

Its former incarnation Twitter was accused of leaning left, now X leans unashamedly to the right in terms of the content that gets the most visibility.

Though Musk stepped down as CEO he never truly stepped back from his favourite social network, and has if anything grown louder and more controversial since he appointed her.

People who have worked directly with Musk have described him as both a visionary and a workaholic, who others can only keep up with for so long.

Whatever the cause, her exit comes at a difficult time for Musk, who is dealing with falling sales at his car maker Tesla.

He is also embroiled in a war of words with his former political ally, US President Donald Trump, culminating in Musk planning a new political party.

X has also continued to attract controversy.

The most recent of these has seen Musk's chatbot, Grok - which is embedded in X - speak favourably about Hitler.

In a statement, xAI said it was working to remove what it called "inappropriate" posts.

Author: Graham Fraser & Zoe Kleinman Technology reporter & editor

Source: BBC News:

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