Watch: Elon Musk Spars With His Twitter CEO Pick Yaccarino Over Free Speech
Future Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino advocated for content moderation and censorship on behalf of advertisers while Musk defended importance of free speech.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk joined a marketing convention last month to talk with NBC Universal’s Linda Yaccarino about the future of marketing at Twitter.
Musk, who announced this week that Yaccarino would take over as Twitter CEO, had sparred with her in an on-stage interview during the POSSIBLE Miami: Marketing Conference & Expo over free speech and content moderation.
In one exchange, Yaccarino asked Musk how far he’d be willing to go to let advertisers “influence” how Twitter curates content, claiming their investments would help “product development, ad safety, content moderation — that’s what the influence is.”
Musk, however, shut her down.
Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino wants to leverage content moderation to help make advertisers excited to invest more money in Twitter. Elon Musk seems to accept the idea, despite being unwilling to have his free speech diminished. pic.twitter.com/sv24bAh21p
— Expose Them (@ExposeDarkDeeds) May 12, 2023
“It’s totally cool to say that you want to have your advertising appear in certain places in Twitter and not in other places, but it is not cool to to try to say what Twitter will do,” he said. “And if that means losing advertising dollars, we lose it. But freedom of speech is paramount.”
Yaccarino also asked if Musk had done anything at Twitter to address “hateful” content that would assuage advertisers.
“What does it mean to the advertisers? Have you de-risked the opportunity of their campaigns landing in these awful hateful places?”
In 36 seconds, you’ll have all you need to know re: the new CEO of Twitter.
Linda Yaccarino, interviewing Elon Musk this year, 2023:
“What does it mean to the advertisers? Have you de-risked the opportunity of their campaigns landing in these awful hateful places?”
Listen 👇 pic.twitter.com/NC9girwwEM
— Joe Has Dementia (@RokerGlasses) May 12, 2023
The news Yaccarino would take over as Twitter CEO was met with skepticism and derision on social media due to the contradiction between Musk’s free speech stance and her pro-censorship views and affiliation with the World Economic Forum, where she served as chairwoman of the globalist group’s task force on world since 2019.
Notably, Yaccarino also sits on the WEF’s Media, Entertainment and Culture Industry Governors Steering Committee.
Anti-trans ideology activist Billboard Chris pointed out these inconsistencies and more on Twitter to Musk on Friday.
“During her interview with you, she was most excited about your initiative to limit reach of tweets which are deemed hateful. ‘Freedom of speech, not freedom of reach.’ In fact, that was her main selling point to the advertising exes in the audience, as she kept coming back to it,” he noted.
During her interview with you, she was most excited about your initiative to limit reach of tweets which are deemed hateful. “Freedom of speech, not freedom of reach.”
In fact, that was her main selling point to the advertising exes in the audience, as she kept coming back to…
— Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) May 12, 2023
Musk responded, “I hear your concerns, but don’t judge too early.”
“I am adamant about defending free speech, even if it means losing money,” he added.
I hear your concerns, but don’t judge too early. I am adamant about defending free speech, even if it means losing money.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2023
Yaccarino is set to start at her new job as Twitter CEO in July, with Musk to step down as CEO of the company he bought last October.
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