Twitter Advertising: 7 Reasons Why Companies Are NO LONGER Advertising on X (formerly Twitter)

Following Elon Musk’s acquisition, X (formerly Twitter) has lost more than half of its top 100 advertisers in less than a month.

Even two years later, the situation hasn’t really changed. The trend of companies scaling back and spending less on advertising has remained the same.

This also includes major brands such as Aldi Nord, Audi, Coca-Cola, Chanel, and Nestlé. But why is that, exactly?

Here are 7 reasons why brand safety on X no longer seems to be guaranteed, which is why many companies and celebrities are turning away from Twitter.

NEWS

More and more celebrities and institutions are turning their backs on Elon Musk’s platform X—including Don Lemon, Jamie Lee Curtis, FC St. Pauli, and the Berlinale. The trigger: Trump’s election victory in November and the increasingly toxic atmosphere. While X is losing relevance, alternatives like Instagram and Threads are booming. And the trend is on the rise! (Source)

Elon Musk shares content from dubious sources such as the pro-Putin influencer network Tenet Media—and he does so in front of his 190 million followers. In doing so, he gives questionable posts massive reach, further fuels the controversies on X, and makes the platform increasingly toxic for advertisers. (Source)

According to a report by Watson, Elon Musk has turned Twitter (now X) into a “muddy swamp” of racist influencers, sex bots, and Russian-funded pro-Trump fake accounts. Musk’s self-proclaimed goal of running the platform as a “free speech absolutist” has led to a massive surge in such problematic content. Companies and users are increasingly distancing themselves from the platform.
(Source)

Elon Musk is resorting to drastic measures to combat the massive decline in advertising revenue on his platform X (formerly Twitter) by suing advertisers who have decided to halt their campaigns. These companies are boycotting X because they are dissatisfied with the direction the platform has taken since Musk’s takeover. Instead of taking advertisers’ concerns seriously and making the platform more appealing, Musk is attempting to recoup his lost revenue through legal pressure. Particularly absurd is the lawsuit against the candy manufacturer Mars, which makes it clear just how far Musk is willing to go to defend his failed decisions.

The case of a nonprofit organization that was forced to shut down following a lawsuit filed by Musk also highlights the aggressive tactics he uses to silence his critics. However, this approach could further erode trust in the platform and in Musk’s leadership style, which could drive away even more advertisers in the long run.

Reports suggest that the racist demonstrations in England this summer might not have escalated as much if Elon Musk hadn’t shared the false claims made by right-wing agitator Tommy Robinson on X. This spread of disinformation highlights the problematic role that X plays in amplifying extremist voices. (Source)

About six years ago, major platforms such as Apple, Meta, and Microsoft replaced the revolver emoji with a water gun to take a stand against hate and violence. Now, X (formerly Twitter) has reversed that decision and reintroduced the gun emoji. This return is seen as insensitive, given the recurring incidents of gun violence worldwide and the ongoing major debates about gun laws. X’s decision could be viewed as a step backward, as it once again brings the negative connotations associated with the gun to the forefront.

Elon Musk’s Platform X, formerly Twitter, now officially allows pornographic content, including AI-generated, photographic, and animated depictions.

This decision is considered highly problematic because there is no effective age verification, which allows minors potential access to this content.

Although users are required to flag such content, this is an inadequate and unreliable safeguard. In the EU, X could face significant regulatory challenges because the platform does not comply with the requirements of the Digital Services Act.
The European Commission already initiated infringement proceedings against X in December 2023, and the new guidelines significantly increase the risk of further sanctions.

In July 2023, Meta launched its version of X, called Threads. Recent estimates show that it already has more daily active users than Elon Musk’s X.

In April 2024, over 28 million users were using Threads, while only 22 million users were using X during the same period. (computerbild.de).

The majority of X users are from the U.S. A comparison of February 2023 to February 2024 shows that 18% fewer users are using the platform daily. Overall, the number of users has dropped by 23% since Elon Musk took over the app. (Source: nbcnews.com)

Although Elon Musk portrays X as a bastion of free speech, an analysis by The Guardian shows that under his leadership, 83% of all censorship requests from authoritarian governments were accepted. At the same time, Musk provides a platform for extreme voices, such as racist agitators, to spread their messages globally. This contradictory policy is causing further uncertainty among advertisers. (Source)

The bad news from Company X is piling up: According to a media report by“Bloomberg”(December 13, 2023,“Heise”), the short-message service’s advertising revenue plummeted to $2.5 billion in 2023. This represents a nearly 50 percent drop in revenue compared to the period before the acquisition by Elon Musk.

Since Elon Musk took over , X has lost nearly three-quarters of its value. A financial services provider estimated the loss to date at 71.5 percent, which means that X is now worth only a fraction of the $44 billion Musk paid for it at the end of 2022. This dramatic decline in value could continue, especially since the company’s advertising revenue has fallen significantly.

X generated approximately $600 million in advertising revenue during the first three quarters of 2023. This represents a significant decline compared to previous years and highlights the challenges the platform faces.

Although X has created a new source of revenue with its paid subscription service, X Premium, this has done little to offset the decline in advertising revenue. According to the “Bloomberg” report, advertising revenue still accounts for up to 75 percent of total revenue.

Data analysts Luca Hammer and Martina Schories investigated, on behalf of ZDF Magazin Royale, how the German-language version of X (formerly Twitter) has changed since Musk’s takeover. The key findings:

Overall, the number of German-language tweets has decreased. In April 2023, 20 percent fewer tweets were posted than in April 2021.

Relatively small bubbles are getting even smaller on average—and tweeting less. This suggests there is less diversity of opinion on Twitter.

In April 2023, the bubble — which consists mainly of right-wing accounts— posted 64 percent more tweets than in April 2021.

Learn more in this video and at vogel.rip

Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, has laid off more than half of Twitter’s employees and top executives responsible for creating policies and moderating content in a very short period of time.

Among others, he also fired Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s head of legal policy, trust, and safety.

To make matters even more complicated, X (formerly Twitter) has laid off its human rights team.

Yoel Roth, the former head of the Trust and Safety department, told Reuters that the social media company had become less secure under its new owner, Elon Musk, and that the company no longer had enough staff to ensure X could operate safely. (Read more here)

As a result, these actions have raised concerns among advertisers, as brand safety can no longer be guaranteed.

Although X, under Elon Musk’s leadership, has attempted to improve its platform, many companies still report that moderation efforts are insufficient. As a result, brands may appear in inappropriate contexts, increasing the risk of reputational damage.

Musk has also promised to grant “amnesty” to nearly all suspended accounts, including those that were apparently suspended for hate speech.

He recently reinstated the account of Andrew Anglin, a self-proclaimed white supremacist and the founder of a neo-Nazi website .

Anglin, who was banned from Twitter in 2013, has called for the Berlin Holocaust Memorial (which he contemptuously refers to as a “hoax”) to be torn down and replaced with a 1,000-foot-tall statue of Hitler.

Musk has also reinstated former U.S. President Donald Trump, courted far-right accounts and engaged with them, and introduced an arbitrary verification system that allows extremists and scammers to obtain a blue checkmark.

The last step, in particular, opened the platform up to a wide range of fraudulent activities and counterfeit brands.

The New York Times reported a 69% increase in accounts linked to the terrorist group ISIS in the first 12 days after Musk took control of the platform.

The Network Contagion Research Institute found that the use of the “N-word” within 12 hours, after Musk took the helm, while reports of anti-Semitic, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ+ language became rampant.

Musk himself has spread conspiracy theories about FTX, attacked the LGBTQ+ movement, and promoted far-right content (more on that).

Another statistic shows that insults directed at Black Americans have tripled, anti-Semitic posts have risen by more than 60 percent, and insults directed at members of the LGBTQIA+community have risen from 2,506 per day to nearly 4,000 comments per day—all within the first two weeks since Musk took over, according to CNN.

Researchers say the rise in hate speech on X is unprecedented. Problematic content and previously suspended accounts have increased sharply in the short time since Elon Musk took over, according to the researchers (read more in this New York Times article here).

Amazon and Uber ads appeared on the X pages of far-right racists whose accounts Musk had reinstated. Ads from dozens of major brands appeared on the accounts of racists and extremists, as reported by the Washington Post.

In a tweet that has since been deleted, Elon Musk shared a link to a website containing conspiracy theories about the attack on Paul Pelosi.

In a response to Hillary Clinton, Musk said that “there might be more to this story than meets the eye.”

In particular, following the botched launch of the $8 X Blue subscription, which included account verification, several companies have turned away from X (formerly Twitter).

X users quickly discovered that they could pay $8 to pose as high-profile accounts and companies, which led to chaos on the platform.

50 of the 100 largest advertisers have either announced they are pulling out or have stopped running ads on X (formerly Twitter). According to Media Matters, these companies include, among others:

• American Express Company

• Audi

• Aldi Nord

• BlackRock, Inc.

• Chanel

• Chevrolet

• Coca-Cola

• Dell

• Ford

• General Motors

• Heineken N.V.

• Hewlett-Packard (HP)

• Jeep*

• Kellogg Company

• LinkedIn Company

• MailChimp (The Rocket Science Group)

• Mars, Inc.

• Merck & Co. (Merck Sharp & Dohme, MSD)*

• Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook, Inc.)

• Nestlé

• Novartis AG*

• The Coca-Cola Company

• The Kraft Heinz Company

*Companies marked with an asterisk have issued a statement or publicly reported that they have paused their ads on X. Otherwise, the companies listed here are “quiet dropouts,” based on a Media Matters analysis of Pathmatics data. “These companies had previously advertised on X but then stopped doing so for an extended period following direct outreach, controversies, and warnings from media buyers.”

Influencers and celebrities are leaving X for various reasons, including:

“All my life, I’ve tried to use music to bring people together. Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world.”

“I have decided to stop using Twitter because the recent change to its policies allows misinformation to spread unchecked.”

“I deactivated my Twitter account today. For a long time now—but especially under the new leadership—it has increasingly become a hotbed of hate and bigotry, and that’s not a place I want to be a part of.”

Read more here: https://people.com/style/gigi-hadid-quits-twitter/

“This will be my last tweet. Last night, @elonmusk posted an anti-Semitic meme from the Old Right, a fake @cnn story, and a picture of guns on his nightstand. @Twitter has become a cesspool of racism, anti-Semitism, disinformation, and stupid far-right hate, and it’s time to leave.”

Source: Twitter (X)

“I’m leaving Twitter, but first, here’s a cartoon I made with my friend Jimmy Hayward. It’s based on my painting of a crazy old lighthouse keeper standing naked in a storm, summoning angels and lighting his lamp to guide us through a treacherous night. I love you all so much!”

Source: Twitter (X)

What do you think? Should we leave X now and switch to Mastodon or Threads ?

In any case, as an online marketing agency, we will refrain from running advertising campaigns on X (formerly Twitter) for the time being and offer our clients attractive alternatives.