In a possibly highly unconventional interview, NBCUniversal’s advertising executive Linda Iaccarino had a discussion with Elon Musk about Twitter’s content policy and approach to working with marketers at an industry conference a month before Musk announced he’d hired her as a social worker. . Network CEO.
The April 18 keynote was billed as Musk’s “Twitter 2.0: From Talk to Partnership” talk at MMA Global’s “Possible” marketing event in Miami.
Iaccarino told Musk that marketers want to “protect their ad campaigns” with a content moderation policy that properly labels “provocative language.” She applauds Twitter announcement last month to promote “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach,” under which the company said it would restrict access to tweets that violated its policy on hate speech and offensive language.
“Have you ruled out the possibility or chance of their campaigns landing in these horrible, hateful places?” Iaccarino asked.
Musk said Twitter has implemented “adjacency control,” which allows marketers to block ads from showing next to “anything that’s remotely negative.” Apple and Disney remain big advertisers on Twitter, Musk said. The company’s brand safety initiative is working, he said, otherwise “Disney would have stopped its advertising.” [from Twitter] for a long time it wasn’t.”
Musk rejected Iaccarino’s suggestion that advertisers should be able to influence what Twitter creates. “If I said: “Yes, you can influence me,” it would be wrong. It would be very wrong,” he said.
Iaccarino clarified that she was referring to “an open feedback loop for advertising experts” to help “turn Twitter into a place they’re happy” to spend more dollars on ads. Musk responded, “It’s absolutely great to say that you want your ads to appear in certain places on Twitter and not in other places. But it’s not good to try to say what Twitter wants to do. And if that means losing advertising dollars, we’re losing them. But freedom of speech is above all.”
Iaccarino asked if Musk would reinstate Twitter’s “influence board,” which brings together top advertisers to provide recommendations to the company. Musk said he was open to feedback but seemed to be ruling out creating such a council. “I would be worried about causing a backlash among the public. Because if the public thinks its views are determined by a small number [ad executives] in America, I think they will be upset about it,” he said.
At another point, Iaccarino cited Musk’s controversial comments (and urged him to stop tweeting after 3 a.m., which he promised he would). “I have to give you a little push, because there are a lot of people in this room, they vote with their wallets … but they cannot cross the transom. They have problems with your point of view, your opinion and [they’re] still holding back from unleashing the full power of Twitter,” Iaccarino said.
Musk blamed “negative media amplification” for the way some of his remarks were presented, and also criticized “traditional media” (which he says competes with Twitter for ad dollars) for perpetuating the notion that hate speech is rampant. on Twitter.
Iaccarino asked Musk about whether he, as the owner of Twitter (and the person with the most followers on the platform), “should be forced to a different or higher standard.” She also pointedly asked if Musk’s own tweets could be labeled hate speech, in keeping with Twitter’s “terrible but not illegal” approach. According to Musk, his tweets are in fact subject to Twitter’s content labeling policy, as well as a feature of the Community Notes platform that uses crowdsourcing to validate content.
Earlier in the conversation, Musk said, “For civilization to develop, we must have freedom of speech,” which drew applause from the audience. “This is a bigger deal than you think.” He went on to say that the “acid test” for free speech is: “Are people you don’t like allowed to say things you don’t like?”
Now that she’s on the payroll from Musk, it will be interesting to see if Iaccarino changes his stance. After leaving the NBCU this week, Iaccarino is set to join Twitter (now officially called X Corp.) before the end of June. As CEO, she will be in charge of business operations, including advertising sales, while Musk said he will lead “product design and new technologies” as CTO. Musk, of course, remains the owner of Twitter and the sole decision maker about the company’s strategy and operations.
On Friday, a Twitter commenter, speaking to Musk, expressed dismay that Iaccarino, during the Miami conference, “was very excited about your initiative to restrict access to tweets that are considered hate,” and worried that she would tend to “condone » advertisers. that “woke up the ideology in the world.” Musk replied, “I hear your concerns, but don’t judge too soon. I am adamant in defending free speech, even if it means losing money.”
Meanwhile, a week before Iaccarino’s move to Twitter was revealed, the NBCU announced content and advertising deals with Twitter and Snapchat, with each company signing up individually to promote the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Paris. The agreement with Twitter will include an exclusive live show hosted by NBC Olympics with highlights, interviews with athletes, and “interactive events for discussion among fans.”
