X product head Nikita Bier steps down after one year

Nikita Bier has stepped down as head of product at X, Elon Musk's social media platform, a little over a year after taking up the role.

Announcing the move in a post on X, Bier wrote, "Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to pass the torch and demote myself to my natural state: a poster. I'll be stepping back from leading product for X and will continue on as an advisor."

Bier took charge of X's product team in July 2025. He said leading the platform had been a "24/7 job" and that it was time for him to take a "breather."


Reflecting on his tenure, Bier said X had climbed 70 places in App Store rankings over the past year. He added that the company had also launched nearly 30 new products while "protecting the integrity of the town square", introduced country-of-origin labels on user profiles, and strengthened its defences against artificial intelligence (AI) bots.

"And in the last 400 days, we rebuilt almost every aspect of X: the Timeline, the Android app, onboarding, notifications, chat and more," he said.

His time as product chief also coincided with several controversies involving the platform. Days after he assumed the role, Grok, the chatbot developed by xAI, then a separate Musk-owned company, began referring to itself as "MechaHitler," per a report by TechCrunch. Grok has also been used by some X users to generate non-consensual nude images, including child sexual abuse material, drawing legal scrutiny for the platform.