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In 2023, brands started boycotting X because they said their advertisements were showing offensive content.
After about a year of refusing to endorse Elon Musk’s X, well-known businesses have lifted their boycott of the platform.
Ad spending on X has resumed from Comcast, Discovery, Disney, IBM, Lionsgate Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Musk has thanked CEO Linda Yaccarino for her efforts in getting the brands back on his platform.
“Just want to say that we super appreciate major brands resuming advertising on our platform!” Musk penned. “Thanks [Linda Yaccarino] and the whole X team for your hard work in restoring confidence in our platform and ensuring that advertising content only appears where advertisers want it shown.”
Following allegations that their branding was associated with “anti-Semetic content” and “hate speech,” AdWeek stated that the aforementioned brands (together with Apple) retracted their advertising campaigns in November 2023.
“The end of the censorship apparatus is imminent.”
Brands like Karma Shopping and Canles Shoes emerged as the leading ad-buyers on X in the absence of the big corporations. Despite a projected 98% decline in ad revenue year over year, Musk stuck to his principles.
At the time, Musk told CNBC, “I’ll say what I want to say, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it.”
Ian Miles Cheong, a political analyst, declared the boycott a failure “the moment Donald Trump won the election.”
“The marketers are aware that the censorship system is ending. Beyond that, advertisers can easily perceive X’s strength, and it is obviously ineffective to deny themselves revenues in order to blame Elon,” Cheong continued.
A warm welcome back! Very grateful to the hardest working team across the globe @X and especially for @elonmusk support always. https://t.co/t01y4weZxa
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) November 15, 2024
The latest allegation follows reports in September that the platform would see a mass withdrawal of advertisers due to “extreme content” worries that could harm brand perceptions.
But in August, when a House Judiciary Committee report indicated that the company was the target of an unlawful boycott, X announced a lawsuit against big advertisers.
In an attempt to demonetize disfavored platforms, content producers, and news outlets, the World Federation of Advertisers—which represents some of the biggest businesses and advertisers in the world—was charged with actively planning boycotts.
James Poulos, presenter of BlazeTV, claimed that after the report’s nature was made public, the haze surrounding the advertising dispute was lifted.
“Rather than mild-mannered normies afraid of controversial content on X, advertisers operate as a cartel of far-left propagandists, reaping profits from taxpayers on government contracts while conspiring to silence free speech at odds with their radical ideologies.”
At the same time, a lot of celebrities on the left are declaring their intention to quit X. This includes former CNN host Don Lemon, who stated he disagrees with the revised terms of service, and MSNBC’s Joy Reid, who stated she does not wish to support the platform.
