- Musk X is suing renegade advertisers.
Elon Musk's online platform X is suing major advertising clients, including consumer goods giant Unilever and food conglomerate Mars, who have stopped running ads on the Twitter successor. X alleges a coordinated boycott and violation of competition law, with dozens of members of an international advertising organization conspiring to withhold "billions of dollars" from X. The also-sued World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has not yet responded to the allegations.
The lawsuit escalates a conflict that began with Musk's takeover of Twitter in October 2022. The tech billionaire, who positions himself as a champion of unrestricted free speech, relaxed the enforcement of Twitter rules against hate speech and misinformation. Musk, who holds right-wing political views, has been criticized for this move.
Advertisers fear for their reputation
A consequence of Musk's takeover was the departure of major and minor advertising clients. He has stated that ad revenue has roughly halved.
Companies are concerned about their image: hate speech researchers have shown how ads from well-known brands can appear next to antisemitic posts. X has dismissed these examples as manipulated and not typical.
Advertisers want to prevent their ads from appearing alongside problematic content. They want to place ads only on online platforms that adhere to guidelines. X accuses the organization of trying to force the service to comply with their demands through a boycott.
"We tried for two years in a peaceful way, now there's war," Musk wrote on X about the lawsuit. He had previously attacked defecting advertising clients with obscene language, singling out Disney in particular.
Elon Musk, the tech billionaire behind X, has been criticized for relaxing Twitter's rules against hate speech and misinformation following his takeover. Advertisers, including major clients like Unilever and Mars, have expressed concern about their image and have stopped running ads on X due to the appearance of their ads next to problematic content.
