Linda Yaccarino stepping down as CEO of Elon Musk’s X
The CEO of X, Elon Musk’s social network, announced on Wednesday she would resign,“After two incredible years, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of 𝕏,” Linda Yaccarino wrote,Musk replied to her tweet: “Thank you for your contributions,”The outgoing CEO said, “When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company,I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App.
”Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, purchased Twitter in 2022 for $44bn and later renamed it X.The billionaire hired Yaccarino the following year, after he fired much of the platform’s staff and announced major changes such as ending content moderation policies.Before joining X, Yaccarino had been a longtime executive at NBCUniversal who focused on advertising and partnerships.In March, Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI acquired the social networking company.Over the course of Yaccarino’s tenure as CEO, she frequently had to put a positive spin on public relations disasters and Musk’s belligerent behavior.
A few months after hiring Yaccarino, Musk gave a public appearance in which he told advertisers to “go fuck yourself” and leave the platform after backlash to his promotion of an antisemitic post,Yaccarino defended his conduct and the company in interviews,Yaccarino’s own output on X often reflected the more congenial side of the platform and contained earnest retweets of celebrity birthdays or events,The CEO was often forced back into damage control mode, however, including denying reports from the Wall Street Journal earlier this year that X had strong-armed companies to advertise on the platform by threatening lawsuits against them,Under Yaccarino, the company did sue advertisers who had pulled back their spending after Musk’s acquisition and outbursts.
The platform’s issues continued right up until Yaccarino announced her departure.The day before she stepped down, Musk’s Grok chatbot began to post rape fantasies, endorsements of Nazi ideology and identify itself as “MechaHitler” before the company intervened and X took down the posts, apologizing for the “inappropriate” tweets.Sign up to TechScapeA weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our livesafter newsletter promotionMusk has found himself embroiled in controversy outside of X in recent months.His political alliance with Donald Trump, which began during the 2024 campaign and resulted in Musk’s appointment as a special government employee and the creation of the so-called “department of government efficiency”, imploded in June in full public view.The two men clashed over the US president’s sweeping tax bill, which Musk called an “abomination”.
The tech tycoon has committed to starting an independent political party dedicated to ousting Republican members from Congress who voted for the bill, which successfully passed.Meanwhile, Tesla, the source of the majority of Musk’s wealth, has seen its sales fall precipitously in response to his political activities, with prospective buyers and current owners alike shying away from the controversial CEO.SpaceX, Musk’s rocket company, has struggled with its latest rocket, the massive Starship, which has repeatedly exploded after liftoff.
Ministers propose voting changes for mayoral elections in English devolution bill
Ministers are changing the voting system for mayoral elections in a move likely to make it harder for Reform politicians to take big regions like Lincolnshire and Hull as they did this year.The changes are part of a new devolution bill, intended to bring a “radical reset to local government”, which will take further steps towards merging many district and county councils into unitary “strategic” authorities.The move is likely to please Labour MPs and local authorities after frustration over losses in two recent contests where Andrea Jenkyns, a Reform mayor, was elected on 42% of the vote in Lincolnshire, while Luke Campbell, the Reform mayor in Hull and East Yorkshire, got 35%.In another part of the legislation, mayors will now be elected under a preferential system, rather than first-past-the-post, a change designed to make sure candidates have broader support.The changes reverse a decision made by the Conservatives in 2022 to switch the system to first-past-the-post away from supplementary voting – where voters have a preferred first and second choice and the candidate does not win outright with more than half the vote
Trial UK and France ‘one in, one out’ scheme designed to curb migrant boat crossings to start within weeks – as it happened
Starmer moves to illegal migration.This is a global crisis, he says. But it is also “acutely” a crisis for UK and France.An enterprise run by criminals is leading hundreds of people to their deaths in the Channel.They have agreed “a ground-breaking returns pilot”
Term ‘disabled’ in danger of losing all meaning, says Badenoch
The leader of the Conservatives, Kemi Badenoch, has said she does not believe one in four people are disabled and the term is in danger of losing its meaning, as she used a speech to criticise the size of the welfare state.Badenoch called for restrictions on disability benefits for those suffering conditions including food intolerances, anxiety and mild depression.She made the speech at the Centre for Social Justice a week after Keir Starmer’s government scaled back the extent of its cuts to disability benefits in the face of a huge revolt from backbench Labour MPs and disability rights groups.The backlash continues, with charities saying “huge swathes” of severely disabled people would be affected by the planned universal credit cuts.However, Badenoch said the cuts do not go far enough, with the Conservatives having tabled proposals to stop sickness benefits going to foreign nationals
Tory defections to Reform are disaster for Badenoch – but Farage needs to tread carefully
Jake Berry has had an eclectic political career in the run-up to his defection to Reform UK this week. An enthusiastic campaigner for remain at the referendum, he became a big champion of Boris Johnson, then backed the most moderate candidate, Tom Tugendhat, for party leader.But after Tugendhat inevitably faltered, he became one of the loudest enthusiasts for Liz Truss’s premiership, under which he was given the post of Tory chair. After her brief leadership ended in collapse, Berry was one of the party’s most restive malcontents. Now, he says, the future is Reform
Former Conservative party chair Jake Berry defects to Reform UK
The former Conservative party chair Sir Jake Berry has joined Reform UK in the most high-profile defection so far to Nigel Farage’s party from the Tories.In a fresh blow to Kemi Badenoch, the former cabinet minister said his former party had “abandoned the British people” and said he wanted to see Reform UK form the next government.Berry, a close ally of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, led the “northern powerhouse” group of MPs but lost his seat at the 2024 election. He said the Conservatives and Labour had “wrecked” the country over the past 20 years.In an article for the Sun, Berry said he was leaving the Conservative party after 25 years as a member and 14 as an MP
Ex-Reform UK MP’s business affairs referred to fraud body
The former Reform UK MP James McMurdock’s business affairs during the Covid pandemic have been referred to the Public Sector Fraud Authority, the Guardian understands.It follows a referral by the Covid corruption commissioner on Wednesday. The authority will investigate the evidence and work with relevant agencies if required.McMurdock, the MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock in Essex, surrendered the party whip last weekend in anticipation of revelations in the Sunday Times, which claimed there were questions over loans totalling tens of thousands of pounds.It was reported that he took out £70,000 in loans in 2020 from the government’s bounce back scheme
Rachel Reeves to try to reassure City investors after unexpected UK GDP fall
Rubio in bind as he seeks to reassure south-east Asia, even as it faces Trump tariffs
AI-generated child sexual abuse videos surging online, watchdog says
Children limiting own smartphone use to manage mental health, survey finds
No one ever got rich writing off Novak Djokovic, but even he can’t stretch time for ever | Jonathan Liew
‘You can’t keep slowing the game down’: Root wants to limit number of ball changes