The Facts
On Monday, Joe Benarroch, who oversaw communication strategy for NBCUniversal’s advertising and partnership division, will join Twitter in an unspecified business operations role.
In an announcement posted on social media, Benarroch wrote, "I am looking forward to bringing my experience to Twitter, and to working with the entire team to build Twitter 2.0 together."
The Spin
Narrative A
It remains to be seen whether the hiring of Benarroch or Yaccarino will be positive for Twitter. Since Musk acquired Yaccarino, conservatives have been skeptical that Twitter will remain on the path toward absolute free speech, and with good reason. Yaccarino comes from liberal NBC, where she publicly voiced liberal viewpoints and seemed like the type of person to bring back the shadow banning of conservatives. Musk’s Twitter still has a lot to prove.
Narrative B
These recent hires will have no impact on Twitter's free speech absolutism, as Musk will still have significant sway in who Twitter hires to run the content-moderation arm of the company and how content is managed. Yaccarino might also have a say, but she’s been brought in more to reassure advertisers and convince them that Twitter, with its nearly unlimited free speech, is a company worth advertising with.
