• Since her appointment two months ago, X CEO Linda Yaccarino says the company is “pretty close” to breaking even.
• This is quite impressive, if true, given that ad revenue was down 50 percent in July this year.
• The CEO also claims that “99.9 percent of all posted impressions are healthy.”

This week recently appointed Twitter CEO (now X) Linda Yaccarino conducted her first formal interview since taking up the new role, sitting down with CNBC.

During the interview, which touched on a number of issues at the X social media platform, Yaccarino commented on the current financial state of the company, noting that it was “pretty close” to breaking even.

“I’ve been at the company eight weeks. The operational run rate right now… we’re pretty close to break even,” she explained.

While Yaccarino did not divulge any numbers or specifics around that statement, it would be quite the turnaround for the company to be breaking even now, especially as only in July Elon Musk mentioned that Twitter as it was still known then saw its ad revenue fall by 50 percent.

Yaccarino’s role as CEO covers many areas, but her primary objective is to help make X a more attractive platform for advertisers. Since Musk took over we have seen several major brands choose to suspend their ad spending while they wait to see what happens to the platform in the near future.

That, however, is changing at X according to its new CEO. When questioned about brand safety on the platform, Yaccarino claimed that the processes in place under the platform’s Freedom of Speech, Not Reach policy are having a positive effect.

“I can confidently sit in front of you and say that 99.9% of all posted impressions are healthy,” Yaccarino told CNBC reporter Sara Eisen, in the video clip embedded below.

When pressed by Eisen on the matter, who asked, “How do you define healthy, though? Is porn healthy? And are conspiracy theories healthy?,” the CEO was quick on the defensive, noting that X’s controls prevent potentially harmful content from reaching a large audience on the platform.

“If (a post) is lawful, but it’s awful, it’s extraordinarily difficult for you to see it,” she rhymed.

Yaccarino went on to note that such content would also be demonetised, along with accounts being permanently suspended. As we have seen with recent high-profile incidents, however, this does not actually seem to be the case, particularly when it comes to CSAM content, which is a massive red flag for advertisers.

While the newly installed CEO is happy to admit that more needs to be done at X, and that the platform needs to be held accountable for the actions of its users, it seems like there is a clear disconnect between what she sees happening on X and what is actually happening.

With X close to breaking even, it will be interesting to see what the company’s next quarterly report lays out.

[Image – Photo by Julian Christ on Unsplash]