Elon Musk’s antitrust lawsuit against brands that have boycotted X and his controversial activity on the platform during the recent spate of UK riots are set to exacerbate the long-held misgivings advertisers have with the site, leading industry figures have said.
On Tuesday, Elon Musk’s X – formerly Twitter – filed a lawsuit against a marketing trade body and string of major advertisers including Unilever and Mars for an “illegal boycott” on the platform which – the claim said – violates antitrust legislation.
In a post from chief executive Linda Yaccarino, the firm said it was suing brands like Unilever and Mars, and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a coalition of ad agencies and advertisers who commit to advertising in a way that doesn’t fund “illegal or harmful content”.
But rather than scare brands into submission, bosses in the media industry told City A.M. that the move – which was variously described as “ego-driven”, “cult-like” and “insane” – is only likely to push already disillusioned brands further away from the ad spend-reliant site.
Alex Tait, the founder of media and marketing agency Entropy, and who previously led Unilever’s ad spending strategy, said: “Musk’s lawsuit is likely driven by his ego rather than commercial logic.
“The concept of X being similar to a “town square”… is driven by a US centric view of the first amendment that doesn’t translate across other countries. [It is] at odds with what advertisers call “brand safety” essentially ensuring that their advertising doesn’t appear next to content that isn’t appropriate for their brands.”
Advertising X’s main advertising avenue, but after several high profile spats between the platform and the advertisers on which it relies. advertisers have been leaving the platform fearing their brand appearing alongside inappropriate or offensive content.
And last year, Elon Musk told advertisers that had left the platform to “go fuck yourself” in an interview.
Joseph Teaside, head of tech at media analyst Enders Analysis, said: “Advertisers just don’t want the drama…
“[They] have already left in droves as X has been overrun by bots, racists and pornography since the Musk takeover. Some have stuck around or come back, tempted by low CPMs, but scandal after scandal is convincing large advertisers that it’s just not worth the hassle.
Meanwhile Alex Wilson, a senior strategist at London agency Pitch, told City A.M. that whereas pre-Musk Twitter was once a good avenue for brands to insert themselves into the biggest conversations, its unregulated nature has made it hard for to convince his clients to part way with money on the site.
“The great salespeople was have left, the verification system is a mess, half your followers are now sexbots, the most interesting people have moved somewhere else, the people still there are posting less, and your timeline is just and endless stream of misery.
“How do you make the case for advertising on a platform like that?”
Views among advertisers in UK were further soured by Musk’s recent online activity around the riots. Since the onset of the unrest, the Tesla founder has branded Keir Starmer as “two-tier Keir” – a reference to two-tier policing – and directly engaged with Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, the founder of the English Defence League also known as Tommy Robinson, having re-instated the far right activist’s account earlier in the week.
In a WhatsApp messages seen by City A.M. between staff at one of the world’s largest ad buying agencies, one exec wrote: “[The lawsuit] coupled with Elon’s comments on recent riots… how any brand can even contemplate going near it is insanity.”
Tait added: “Existing concerns that UK advertisers have about the platform are also likely to be increased by role X / Twitter is thought to have played in the unrest we’ve seen over the last week.”
X could not be reached for comment.