X CEO Linda Yaccarino defends Musk over UK child grooming and EU rows

The head of X Linda Yaccarino mounted a robust defence of the platform’s owner Elon Musk on Tuesday in the face of criticism of his ongoing row with the UK’s prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and his interventions in European politics.

The billionaire locked horns with the British premier over calls for a government inquiry into child grooming gangs, and is the focus of a possible EU probe after announcing a live-streamed session on X with Alice Weidel, the leader of far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), ahead of the German federal elections next month.

In a Q&A panel at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Yaccarino defended the platform’s freedom of speech mantra and the content of the “visionary” billionaire’s posts, including those on the UK’s grooming scandal.

“I don’t think about it [Musk’s comments on X] as red lines… If not for X, where would the conversation be about [sic] to save thousands of girls, to bring people to justice who must be brought to justice?” she asked.

“Those grooming trials would have stayed silent but now we’re looking at an inquiry. So I look at bravery and vision and the courage to do that… saving those girls, preventing any other girls in the world to be exposed to such sick depravity”.

Fears for UK minister’s safety

The UK’s Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips spoke out on Tuesday about fears for her safety after Musk singled her out in his posts concerning the child grooming scandal.

Phillips found herself at the centre of an international furore after Musk responded to the news that she had rejected calls for the UK government to launch an inquiry into child grooming and rape gangs in towns in northern England.

The decision was taken in October but was only reported on at the start of this year by UK broadcaster GB News and subsequently picked up by the tech mogul on the social media platform.

In posts on X, Musk, who is an advisor to US president-elect Donald Trump, branded Phillips an “evil witch” and a “rape genocide apologist” who should be jailed.

Starmer, who the billionaire said was “complicit in the rape of Britain,” condemned Musk’s baseless attacks on the government as “lies and misinformation,” adding that they were amplifying the “poison” of the far right.

The prime minister is one of a growing number of European leaders to voice criticism of Musk in recent days.

Meddling in elections criticism

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron accused Musk of being at the head of a “new, international reactionary movement” that was intervening directly in elections.

In Germany, Musk has also been slammed for endorsing the far-right AfD in an op-ed for the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, with politicians accusing him of trying to influence the upcoming election next month.

He is scheduled to host a lengthy live conservation with the party’s leader on X on Thursday.

“I don’t understand how that’s interfering in elections,” Yaccarino responded.

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“There’s influential people all over the world stating their points of view. Publications either endorse or state their points of view all the time. It really isn’t about that,” she added. 

“It’s about that it’s a different point of view and it’s not the current, I think, talking points of yesterday that was acceptable. And I go back to what I just said: if not for X, where would those girls and future girls be?”

The European Commission is looking into whether the livestream with Weidel violates the terms of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

‘Meta, welcome to the party’

On other talking points, Yaccarino said it was “exciting” that Meta had decided to scrap fact-checkers in favour of X-style community notes.

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She said it was “validating” that the social media giant was following X’s example. “Mark, Meta, welcome to the party,” the head of X added.

Her comments came just hours after Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the change for users in the US on Tuesday. 

In a video message, Zuckerberg said fact-checkers were “too politically biased” and that they “destroyed more trust than they created”.

Speaking on stage at CES, Yaccarino said: “I think it’s really exciting that when you think about community notes being good for the world”.

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“Think about it as this global collective consciousness keeping each other accountable at global scale in real-time. And it couldn’t be more validating than to see that Mark and Meta realised that,” she continued.

X’s community note system has come under fire with a 2024 report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), for instance, finding that 74 percent of accurate community notes on the platform concerning US election misinformation were not being shown to all users.