Elon Musk Defends Linda Yaccarino’s Appointment

Twitter Users Meltdown Over Elon Musk’s CEO Choice

After almost 24 hours of letting people speculate endlessly over who would be the new sheriff at Twitter, Elon Musk made the announcement. Using a tweet, Elon Musk made it official that Linda Yaccarino, formerly of NBC Universal, would be taking over as the new CEO. 

“I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter! @LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology. Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app,” read the tweet.

After the announcement, people were quick to congratulate both Musk and Yaccarino. Many sources touted the appointment as smart, especially considering how effective she had been in her 11-year tenure at NBC Universal.

However, some were not impressed by Musk’s choice, going so far as to accuse him of ‘selling out’. This outcry by users of the platform was due to a set of videos that show Yaccarino as having contradicting ideals to those of Musk.

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One commentator labeled Yaccarino’s appointment as ‘frightening’ while another said, ‘disaster for Twitter.’

 However, Elon quickly came to the defense of his new CEO.  He said, ‘I hear your concerns, but don’t judge too early,’ Musk said. ‘I am adamant about defending free speech, even if it means losing money.’

Concern’s Over Yaccarino’s Appointment

One of the main concerns revolves around Yaccarino’s commitment to free speech, which Musk has reiterated time and time again, he would promote on the social platform.

Users got concerned after footage of Yaccarino interviewing Musk a month before her appointment surfaced. In the interview, she seemed to encourage Musk to sanction the return of an “influence council.”

This presence of this council would mean that advertisers would have a vote about the kind of content allowed on Twitter.  Musk quickly combatted this proposition during the interview.

He said, ‘If I were to say yes, you can influence me, that would be wrong. That would be a diminishment of freedom of speech.’

While Musk held his own during the interview, users are afraid that the introduction of Yaccarino could mean that she will introduce the changes she proposed during the interview.

Yaccarino worked with the Biden administration to encourage the COVID vaccination launch during the pandemic. She touted her support for the mask and vaccine mandates during this time.

After her appointment, videos and tweets of her encouraging people to take the vaccine surfaced too.

In one tweet she said, “Know the facts! The @AdCouncil is working to inform Americans on why we must embrace an FDA-approved Covid vaccine and how to go about it. We’re almost there, let’s cross the finish line.”

Twitter users used both of these scenarios to criticize Musk’s decision to appoint Yaccarino. Billboard Chris, an activist on Twitter said that Yaccarino was a “long-term mistake”.

This tweet evoked a reaction from Musk where he replied directly, urging people not to “judge too early.”