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Elon Musk's Choice of Twitter CEO Portends a Bumpy Ride

By Dustin Rowles | Social Media | May 12, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | Social Media | May 12, 2023 |


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Elon Musk has chosen Linda Yaccarino, the chief of ad sales at NBCUniversal, to become the new CEO of Twitter. Musk said she will assume the role in June, while he transitions to executive chair and chief technology officer.

Yaccarino is experienced in ad sales, and the choice suggests that Elon Musk is eager to regain the advertising the social media platform lost after he took over. Twitter Blue has not worked to increase revenue, therefore Musk is being forced again to fund the site in more traditional ways. Yaccarino has overseen a team at NBCUniversal that has generated over $100 billion in ad sales and has formed partnerships with various companies, including Twitter. She has also been involved with the World Economic Forum and has collaborated with Musk in the past.

The question is whether Musk will allow Yaccarino to change Twitter back to the way it was before Musk took over in order to increase ad sales. It would likely mean increasing content moderation again, and changing the algorithm so that Twitter Blue users — mostly conservative Elon Musk followers — are not given premium placement on the site, regardless of their lack of followers. It may also prove difficult for Yaccarino to increase ad sales while Tucker Carlson is using the platform to launch his new show.

Based on some of the accounts that Yaccarino follows on Twitter — Chaya Raichik, Jesse Watters, Ron DeSantis, The Babylon Bee, Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, Jack Posobiec, and Libs of TikTok — she is likely conservative in her politics. In 2018, long after the country knew what kind of President he was, Yaccarino also accepted a Trump appointment to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.

It all suggests that Musk likely hired Yaccarino to help him turn Twitter into a legitimate conservative social media outlet. She spoke during an interview with Musk last month. Based on this interaction, where Yaccarino pushed Musk to stop being Elon Musk, it could be a bumpy ride. She is clearly smarter and more knowledgeable than him where it concerns social media and advertising, which is good for Twitter, but can she control Musk without getting herself fired?