On Friday, a wave of major brands suspended their advertising on X, significantly impacting Elon Musk’s social media platform following his recent endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory popular among White supremacists.
The exodus includes some of the world’s largest media companies, such as Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Comcast, Lionsgate, and Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN. Reports also indicate that Apple has withdrawn its advertising, as first reported by Axios. Apple has yet to respond to requests for comment.
The rapid and extensive nature of these withdrawals casts a shadow over the future of X, formerly known as Twitter, which Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino had hoped would become profitable again by next year. This development follows IBM’s suspension of its advertising the previous day. IBM, along with other major brands, had found their ads appearing next to pro-Nazi content on the platform, as reported by the progressive media watchdog Media Matters. IBM condemned the situation, stating it had “zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination.”
In response to the brand withdrawals, X accused Media Matters of intentionally misrepresenting the user experience by focusing on pro-Nazi content that had little engagement. X highlighted that some of these posts had since been suppressed under its “Freedom of Speech, not Reach” policy.
Early Saturday, Musk threatened to sue Media Matters. In response, Media Matters President Angelo Carusone stated, “If he does sue us, we will win,” accusing Musk of trying to silence accurate reporting with baseless legal threats.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino addressed the controversy in a social media post, asserting that the platform is committed to fighting antisemitism and discrimination. Musk also reiterated this stance, stating that anyone advocating genocide of any group would be banned from the platform.
Media Matters’ analysis revealed that ads from Apple, Comcast, NBC, and Oracle had also appeared alongside pro-Nazi content. Oracle has not yet commented on the situation. X’s spokesperson confirmed that the pro-Nazi accounts identified in the report would no longer be eligible for monetization, meaning no ads would run on those pages.
This week’s actions follow previous ad pauses by NCTA — the Internet and Television Association — and Gilead Sciences, which had also suspended their spending on X after their ads appeared next to similar content.
