Twitter/X

Jordi praised Nikita Bier as a 'good steward' and 'more of a sheriff than a…

2026-08-06 · 21:56 UTC ·@tbpn ·2 min read

Brief

Nikita Bier announced on 2026-08-06 he will step back from leading product at X to become an advisor, citing burnout and 24/7 demands. He credited unprecedented growth — a 70-place App Store jump year-over-year — 400 days of rebuilding Timeline, Android, onboarding, notifications and chat, nearly 30 product launches, and new safety features; Jordi called him a 'good steward' who mitigated harms from rev share.

Why it matters

Jordi praised Nikita Bier as a 'good steward' and 'more of a sheriff than a bouncer,' calling the role 'one of the most thankless jobs' and saying Nikita tried to limit harms from creator revenue sharing, which Jordi claimed 'never made sense' on X.

Key details

  • On 2026-08-06 Nikita Bier announced he is stepping back from leading product at X to become an advisor, citing the 24/7 nature of the job; he credited 'unprecedented growth' — a 70-spot jump in the App Store year-over-year — and said X rebuilt core systems in the last 400 days and launched nearly 30 products.
  • Nikita highlighted safety and authenticity work: adding Country-of-Origin labels on profiles and mounting defenses against AI bots, and named incoming product leads: @benjitaylor (design), @singhai (core product engineering), and @dinkin_flickaa (mobile engineering).
Source evidence

Jordi: "Everyone has opinions about Nikita's run. I think he was a good steward."

"It's probably one of the most thankless jobs in the world. Where you're getting yelled at by people [on all sides]."

"He had some amazing moments. I've always felt that creator revenue sharing never made sense on X. I think the app would still be better if there were no rev share."

"But he did a great job of trying to make that not have too much of a negative impact on the platform."

"He was kind of a sheriff. More of a sheriff than a bouncer."

Video

Nikita Bier (@nikitabier)

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.

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.

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.

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

We also launched nearly 30 new products while protecting the integrity of the town square: becoming the first app to show Country-of-Origin on profiles and mounting defenses against AI bots. There's certainly much more work to be done, but our foundation is stronger than ever.

None of this would have been possible without the incredible team here. The next leaders will take X to even greater heights with @benjitaylor on design, @singhai on core product engineering and @dinkin_flickaa on mobile engineering -- among many other great people.

Thank you to Elon and the X team for welcoming me into the company. See you on the Timeline.

Video

— https://nitter.net/nikitabier/status/2085105586966827343#m