Major advertisers and industry executives are targeting billionaire Elon Musk’s X — formerly Twitter — following controversies related to antisemitic content on the platform, according to reports.
After a recent report alleging advertisements show up on antisemitic content on X and a post by Musk that was interpretedby some as antisemitic, Apple, IBM, Lionsgate, Paramount Global, Sony and Warner Bros. Discovery have all stopped advertising on the platform, according to The New York Times. Executives in the advertising industry are also pushing X CEO Linda Yaccarino to resign, according to reports.
“The issue is no longer about content adjacencies or content moderation. It’s simply that the owner is not someone marketers can do business with,” Lou Paskalis, the founder and CEO of AJL Advisory, told Axios. “I think the advertising community is now working to save the reputation of a beloved member of our industry who does not share Elon Musk’s views and certainly did not know them when she accepted the role of CEO. If she did, she would not have accepted it.”
Paskalis recommended Yaccarino resign but she currently is not considering it, according to Axios.\
Left-wing media watchdog Media Matters claimed on Thursday that advertisers on X often show up next to pro-Nazi content. Musk announced he would file a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against Media Matters on Saturday, calling the group “an evil organization.”
Moreover, Musk affirmed an X user’s Wednesday post on alleging that Western Jews have been advocating “dialectical hatred against whites,” stating that they are now realizing that minorities they once advocated for do not support them.
Musk replied, “You have said the actual truth,” and called out organizations like the Anti-Defamation League.
The billionaire received widespread condemnation for the allegedly “antisemitic” post, including from the White House.
X did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Jason Cohen on November 20, 2023