Musk once rejected new Twitter CEO's pressure to allow advertiser influence: 'Freedom of speech is paramount'

Twitter’s incoming CEO recently interviewed Elon Musk about his leadership and use of the platform, but some warn her questions are a bad sign for the social media site's future.

After acquiring the platform in 2022 with an intension to protect free speech, Musk named former NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino the new CEO of Twitter Friday. Yaccarino stepped down as global chair of advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal to take the position and Musk announced the new CEO would start in about 6 weeks.

Following the hiring, an interview from an April marketing conference resurfaced where Yaccarino criticized Musk for his late night tweets and asked if he would reinstate a form of the Twitter Influence Council, a group of advertisers and other stakeholders to give feedback and have direct access to Twitter leadership.

Dan Schneider, vice president of MRC Free Speech America, told Fox News Digital the prospect of reinstating the Influence Council and other issues Yaccarino raised in the interview are concerning.

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"The one thing free speech advocates and conservatives feared most about Yaccarino was that she would re-introduce a silencing regime inside Twitter's advertising practices. She should stick to helping Twitter become the best platform for speech, but it looks like she might be more interested in continuing to promote a woke agenda like she did at NBC," Schneider said. 

At the MMA Global's POSSIBLE Event in Miami, Yaccarino told Musk that advertisers "need to feel that there is an opportunity for them to influence what you’re building," using as an example that Musk "probably shouldn’t tweet after 3am," and noting she is "very aware" of the times Musk faced backlash for his late night posts. 

"Will you commit to be a little more specific and not tweet after 3am?" she asked. "People in this room would like to see that."

Musk did not specifically object to the concept of avoiding late night tweets, but argued, "If I were to say, ‘Yes, you can influence me,' that would be wrong. That would be very wrong. That would be a diminishment of freedom of speech."

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Yaccarino went further on how influencing could be an "open feedback loop" between advertising experts, like those present at the conference, to the point they would be more eager to engage with Twitter’s "product development, ad safety, content moderation — that’s what the influence is."

Musk objected to the idea of Twitter being influenced by outside sources. 

"It’s totally cool to say that you want to have your advertising appear in certain places in Twitter and not in other places, but it is not cool to try to say what Twitter will do," he said. "And if that means losing advertising dollars, we lose it. But freedom of speech is paramount."

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Yaccarino then brought up the Twitter Influence Council, which still existed as late as November when Musk took over the company and met with the group.

"Twitter 1.0 had a very well-populated, much loved Influence Council – I think we need to change the name, Elon does not want to be influenced – but it was really a recurring feedback loop from your key stakeholders, your advertisers, where they would have recurring access to you. Would you commit from the stage today to reinstate that council, to be named later?" she asked.

"I would be worried about creating a backlash among the public," Musk replied. "Because if the public thinks that their views are being determined by, you know, a small number of CMO’s in America, they will be, I think, upset about that."

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Musk advocated a "sensible middle ground" that ensures "the public has their voice, even if you don’t like the voice at times," while advertisers are still able to "serve your brands and improve the perception of your brands – improve sales as well" by offering feedback to leadership of the Twitter platform as they use it.

Fox News Digital reached out to Yaccarino for comment, but did not receive a reply in time for publication.