X CEO Struggles To Explain Her Role as Elon Musk Announces Decisions Without Her

X (formerly Twitter) CEO Linda Yaccarino couldn’t control the force of nature that is Elon Musk. In her recent interview at Code 2023, she was visibly struggling to answer questions about her role and the platform. When asked by Julia Boorstin of CNBC about how many X users will leave the platform once it becomes a subscription-only service according to Musk, Yaccarino appeared as if she wasn’t aware of Musk’s decision—despite claiming that they “talk about everything.”

Yaccarino aggressively marketed the branding change from Twitter to X. Boorstin pointed out Yaccarino’s background in advertising, to which the X CEO asked, “Do you think Elon brought me to the company? To be the head of advertising, or to run the company and to deliver to our users the best possible experience?” Yaccarino claimed it was the latter, but the lack of consultation between the product side of X with Musk gave rise to suspicions that she is merely “a CINO (CEO in Name Only).”

Yaccarino didn’t know how to answer the question of whether or not she is a “CINO”, but she diverted the question to having Musk’s support and prioritizing “user experience.” This ties back to Yaccarino’s framing of herself as a “heretic” for wanting to innovate in her former profession to keep up with consumers, but that much can only be proven in action and not her words alone.

To support this claim, it appears that Yaccarino also doesn’t know the reality of app usage and was deflecting from answering questions. When asked about the decline in the usage rate of X after its rebranding, Yaccarino stated that “50,000 curated environments and conversation of communities” had “engagement numbers and time spent” going up since June. This doesn’t answer why app usage had gone down in general, but merely addresses a spike in conversations in specific groups. Regardless, Yaccarino insisted that “there is no surrogate for X.”

Aside from being loyal to X, Yaccarino also staunchly defended Elon Musk for being inspirational among other positive traits. “Who wouldn’t want Elon Musk sitting by their side running product?” This resulted in an awkward moment, as numerous hands raised throughout the room.

(featured image: Jerod Harris, Getty Images for Vox Media)