After crashing car and hate speech mogul Elon Musk posted his infamous reply to a neo-Nazi post on X on Wednesday, advertisers on his social media platform are pausing their advertising so as not to be associated with vile pro-Nazi content. CNN reports that after IBM pulled its ads on Thursday, the floodgate appears to be opening:
"A torrent of prominent brands halted their advertising on X on Friday, dealing a massive reputational blow to Elon Musk’s social media company after his public embrace this week of an antisemitic conspiracy theory favored by White supremacists.
The high-profile advertiser revolt includes some of the world’s largest media companies, such as Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Comcast, Lionsgate and Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent of CNN.
X also reportedly lost Apple, according to multiple news outlets including Axios, which first reported Apple’s withdrawal."
Musk's social media platform has lost significant revenue from advertisers objecting to his permissive policy on disinformation and hate speech, particularly on the far right. The White House strongly condemned Musk's latest descent into anti-Semitism, calling it "abhorrent." Also, Musk has been in a feud with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) after it pointed out numerous posts on X that were anti-Semitic, causing some advertisers to pull their ads earlier this year. Musk has gone so far as to accuse the ADL of spreading an "anti-white" message, and to threaten it with a lawsuit.
Advertising has dropped dramatically since Musk purchased the platform, some 55% year-over-year each month. When advertisers see a losing proposition being abandoned by their peers, they're not far behind them. Expect the advertising on "X" to continue to drop off dramatically.
(Photo illustration: Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty)
