X CEO Linda Yaccarino is unexpectedly sweeping into CES 2025 for a keynote. The former NBC Universal executive, who joined X (formerly Twitter) as CEO in 2023 and had done little to nothing to dampen owner Elon Musk's incendiary use of the platform, will sit down with CBS News investigative journalist Catherine Herridge on January 7 at 1:30 PM PST.
The chat comes after a tumultuous couple of years at the head of the struggling social media platform. Yaccarino is no stranger to the interview stage, but she's been notoriously obtuse when asked point-blank about the activity on her platform. Her 2023 Vox Media interview is almost legendary, with some describing it "like something of HBO's Silicon Valley."
CES, which invited Yaccarino to speak, pitched her as something of a resilient innovator. "Linda’s career exemplifies the spirit of CES – innovation, resilience, and vision,” said CTA CEO Gary Shapiro in a press release where CTA President Kinsey Fabrizio, President, CTA, described her as a "visionary."
What that vision is, though, is hard to define. Since Yacarrino took the reigns, she's done nothing to move X back to a more inviting center (legions of people – including many celebrities – recently exited X to join BlueSky). In fact, the platform has become more closed off and fertile ground for dangerous misinformation. At a more practical level, the company has reportedly lost 72% of its value.
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Still, Yacarrino's chat might be more compelling now than even three months ago. Her boss, Elon Musk, now sits at the right hand of soon-to-be President Donald Trump (this chat will take place just weeks before Trump is reinaugurated into office) and Musk is now using X and his 200 million followers on the platform to shape policy. A recent Tweet barrage helped temporarily sink a funding bill that would've kept the US government functioning for a few more months (a revised bill did pass).
Musk is also about to start co-running with Vivek Ramaswamy DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), which will look to suggest drastic cuts to the US government. Whatever decisions Musk and Ramaswamy make will likely be run through the X echo chamber, probably with live polls.
I don't expect Yacarrino to address any of this directly. She'll likely deflect questions on the health of the business, the worrisome rhetoric flourishing on it, and the possible conflicts that might exist between Musk's various businesses, his control of the increasingly influential platform, and his new unelected governmental role.
Since she's painting X in the release as "the global newsroom in your pocket," it's fairly certain Herridge will press her on how, with many reputable news outlets leaving the platform, X is still a newsroom.
Her answer might not make any sense, but guaranteed Musk will love it, and everyone on X will eat it up.
Enjoy the show at CES 2025.
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