The two spoke on stage during a marketing conference in Miami Beach, Florida, in April.
Linda Yaccarino, the current CEO of NBC Universal, will take over as Twitter’s new CEO, according to Elon Musk. Yaccarino, a seasoned executive in advertising, is credited with integrating and digitizing NBCU’s ad sales. Her current job will be to win back the advertisers that have abandoned Twitter since Musk purchased it for $44 billion last year.
Since assuming control, Elon Musk has fired thousands of Twitter employees, largely disbanded the trust-and-safety team in charge of preventing hate speech, harassment, and misinformation on the site, and accused others of exaggerating Twitter’s issues, particularly mainstream media outlets that he sees as dishonest “competitors” with Twitter for ad dollars.
The two spoke on stage during a marketing conference in Miami Beach, Florida, in April. Here are some of their conversation’s high points:
Yaacarino and Musk argue about content moderation.
Although there were some clear lines drawn in the sand by both parties, the conversation in Miami was polite. Linda Yaccarino occasionally directed the discussion towards concerns with content filtering and the apparent increase in extremism and hate speech since Musk seized control of the network. She framed her inquiries in terms of whether Musk might make platform advertisers feel more welcome.
She once inquired as to Musk’s willingness to allow advertisers to “influence” his plans for Twitter, arguing that doing so would encourage them to make larger investments since “product development, ad safety, and content moderation – that’s what the influence is.”
Musk silenced her. “It’s totally cool to say that you want to have your advertising appear in certain places on Twitter and not in other places, but it’s not cool to try to say what Twitter will do,” he added. And if doing so results in us losing money from advertising, we lose it. But speaking freely is crucial.
No particular impact for advertisers, Musk reiterates
A few seconds later, Yaccarino brought up the subject again when she questioned Musk about his intentions for the company’s “influence council,” a once-regular gathering of marketing directors from many of Twitter’s top advertisers. Musk resisted once more.
He remarked, “I would be concerned about inciting a backlash among the public.” Because, “I think, the public will be upset about that if they think that, you know, a small number of (marketing executives) in America are dictating their views.”
Musk continued by acknowledging the value of input and urging Twitter to pursue a “sensible middle ground” that would guarantee the general public “has a voice” while advertisers concentrated on the routine task of boosting sales and brand perception.
Pursuing Musk’s tweets with vigor
Musk didn’t miss the chance to pitch the gathered marketers on a new strategy the firm had launched the day before to address Twitter’s issues with offensive tweets. Musk referred to the restriction as “freedom of speech but not freedom of reach,” and he described it as a technique to reduce the prominence of hate speech and related issues without actually eliminating tweets that violate the rules.
Yaccarino swung his arm. The question is, “Does it apply to your tweets?” Musk has a history of tweeting false information and, on occasion, nasty messages early in the morning.
Musk admitted that it does, and he added that “community notes” can also be added to his tweets to offer further information. He continued by saying that Twitter doesn’t give his tweets any particular favors.
Please be more detailed and refrain from tweeting after 3 a.m. Yaccario enquired.
Musk responded, “I will strive to tweet less after 3 a.m.
