Elon Musk Announces He's Stepping Down As Twitter CEO, Named Linda Yaccarino As His Replacement

In mid-December 2022, Elon Musk posted a poll to Twitter, asking the site, "Should I step down as head of Twitter?" He promised to "abide by the results of this poll."

The poll saw users vote 57.5% to 42.5% that Musk should step down. Yesterday, Musk announced he was stepping down as Twitter CEO.

The tweet indicated that Musk had hired a woman as his successor. After a brief speculation period on social media (in which some joked Twitter's new CEO would be Elona Musk), The Wall Street Journal reported that the successor was likely NBC advertising head Linda Yaccarino. They later reported that Yaccarino had resigned from NBC, presumably to take on the role as Twitter CEO. Earlier this morning, Musk made it official.

The Yaccarino hire has proven controversial for both sides of the political spectrum. Several critics on the left have expressed concern over evidence that Yaccarino leans to the right. Yaccarino served two years on Donald Trump's Council on Sports Fitness and Nutrition. However, she also partnered with the Biden administration to create a Coronavirus vaccine ad campaign. Others have expressed concern that she follows controversial right-wing accounts such as Libs of TikTok, Catturd and Ian Miles Cheong.

Meanwhile, right-wingers are concerned with the fact Yaccarino is the chairwoman of the World Economic Forum (WEF) task force, the organization behind The Great Reset proposal, which has been accused by some conspiracy theorists as a plan to create a New World Order.

Some believe Yaccarino's connections as a WEF chair will help her liaise with Twitter's investors and with advertisers, which Twitter desperately needs to reattract after Musk's perceived erratic leadership scared off some brands. How she will handle the day-to-day operations of the site remains to be seen.