Elon Musk-owned X’s Head of Product Nikita Bier announced he was stepping down from his post on Thursday (August 6, 2026), hailing the social media company’s milestones under his leadership and noting that it was time for him to “take a breather.”

Mr. Bier said he will continue as an advisor, and also confirmed that he would continue to post, as this was his “natural state.”

“Serving the X community has been the privilege of a lifetime. X is, and will remain, the most important communication technology in history. But running this app is a 24/7 job and it’s now time for me to take a breather,” Mr. Bier posted, adding, “The app is seeing unprecedented growth in new users & engagement. We continue to break records every month. We’ve climbed 70 spots in the App Store since this time last year.”

Some of the “rebuilt” features that Mr. Bier touted included the X timeline, the Android app, onboarding, notifications, and chat. He highlighted new features, such as showing the user’s country of origin on profiles, as well as nearly 30 new products.

“There’s certainly much more work to be done, but our foundation is stronger than ever,” he said.

Mr. Bier, who took up his post in July 2025, was X’s Head of Product earlier this year when the Grok AI chatbot allowed users to create numerous nude images and/or sexual deepfakes of real life social media users, via their photos and media.

Mr. Bier has also faced criticism over platform rules and regulations that reportedly made it difficult for some users sharing links to organically promote their content, invite engagement, and grow their following.

Published - August 06, 2026 01:08 pm IST