The Code Conference 2023: all the news as it happens

is X CEO Linda Yaccarino’s description of the state of her company.

CNBC interviewer Julia Boorstin had been pushing Yaccarino for hard numbers on the state of X — whether it’s growing, shrinking, turning a profit. Yaccarino said, essentially, none of that matters as long as there’s no social media equivalent to X.

Linda Yaccarino didn’t quite answer that question while onstage at Code, but she did pose a question that, frankly, feels easier to answer: “Who wouldn’t want Elon Musk sitting by their side running product?”

During her bizarre interview at the Code Conference yesterday, Yaccarino held up her iPhone to the audience while seemingly indicating that it was supposed to represent X. I was sitting near the front of the stage and squinting to try and see what was on it.

Thanks to the magic of video and this screengrab from my colleague Vjeran, we have the goods. X doesn’t appear to be on her home screen but, incredibly, Facebook and Instagram are. I also spot Signal — Elon Musk’s messaging app of choice — and the Holy Bible, which really is the original super app if you think about it. (Also, Settings in the dock? What are you doing, Linda!)

Hear CEO Praveen Penmetsa talk about it in this clip from Code 2023. (It’s more interesting than it seems!) And read more from the event in our storystream.

I gave Clockwork’s manicure robot a try at the Code Conference. After I picked out a nail polish color, it took about 10 minutes to walk out with a fresh manicure.

Clockwork doesn’t file or shape your nails — it just paints one coat of polish, using AI to identify where to paint.

I don’t see this replacing the nail salon experience, but it could be helpful if you’re in a pinch and need something quick. So far, my polish is holding up pretty well. Clockwork is currently available at these locations and costs $10. 

Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, was a late add to the agenda, and that meant two of the last sessions of the event were a kind of meta conversation about Twitter’s past and X’s future.

Catch clips of both interviews and some of my thoughts in our video recapping the interviews, and you can read more real-time thoughts in our storystream. If you want to watch the interviews yourself, virtual passes are available here right now.

Julia Boorstin asked her to confirm that X would start charging users to post, as Musk floated a week ago. Yaccarino was not so sure:

We’ll have a few more videos to share as we wrap things up, so check back in for some of the key moments. And if you want all the details, read back through our StoryStream below.

There was a recurring theme to Yaccarino’s answers: she keeps defending X from statements and choices by Elon Musk.

Harassment of Yoel Roth? Linked to Musk. Advertisers fleeing the platform because of chaotic moderation decisions before she was hired? Musk. A dispute with a well-regarded nonprofit combatting anti-Semitism? Musk.

She’s surprisingly good at diffusing these questions, but you’d think that X would want to talk about literally anything other problems caused by Musk.

She didn’t dispute that some members of the team had been fired, but she said X is expanding its work to combat platform manipulation and disinformation overall.

“It’s an issue we take very seriously,” she said. “And contrary to the comments that were made, there is a robust and growing team at X that is wrapping their arms around election integrity.”

Boorstin is trying to squeeze in a last couple of questions before they wrap up.

Yaccarino says in response to the dispute between Musk and the Anti-Defamation League.

I think the implication is that she wishes the ADL — a nonprofit focused on combating anti-Semitism — would stop criticizing X for its moderation problems and calling on advertisers to abandon the platform.

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt “continues to question the progress as it relates to anti-Semitism,” Yaccarino says. “It is disappointing that there is not equal time given to all the progress.”

When Boorstin asked about how the plan would impact X usage, Yaccarino asked her to clarify.

“Did he say we were moving to it specifically, or did he say that’s the plan?” she asked

Boorstin pushed her on whether they’d discussed it first. “We talk about everything,” she said. But the exchange does not, exactly, have me convinced.

An actual question Linda Yaccarino has posed to the audience. Not me!

“Something like that,” Yaccarino said on stage. She pulled out her phone like she was going to double check the number, then got sidetracked by a long answer.

Later, she threw out as examples 540 million monthly active users and 225 million daily active users without quite committing to them being real figures.

She’s completely dodged Julia Boorstin’s question about if everyone will be charged to use X.

From an “operating cash flow perspective,” the company is “just about break even.” In early 2024, “we’ll be turning a profit.”

90 percent of the top 100 advertisers have returned to the platform. In the last 12 weeks, about 1,500 have returned.

Roth said his advice to her was to think about the risks of working with Musk and “what she might face.”

To Yaccarino, having safety concerns comes with the territory of being a CEO. “I feel great. I’m well protected,” she said. Yaccarino said she appreciated his concerns. “I think that’s just a human emotion when you get thrust into such a public spotlight.”

“There is no analog for the book that is being written right now,” she said onstage at Code. That sounds like a ridiculously lofty claim to me! She says that there have been over 100 products shipped since the acquisition.