Elon Musk’s social media platform “X” (Twitter) is suing World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) over a “massive advertiser boycott,” alleging a conspiracy that violates US antitrust laws. The lawsuit alleges the companies conspired, against their own economic interests, to pull advertising from the platform and cause it to lose out on “billions” in revenue after skyrocketing in popularity after Musk’s 2022 takeover — after which X revenue decreased significantly. Advertising was widely pulled from the platform in November 2023 after their ads were posted next to posts that were considered pro-Nazi. . X filed the lawsuit in federal court in a Texas court this week against the WFA and mega advertisers individually, including Unilever, Mars, Orsted, CVS and others. It seeks an unspecified amount in damages and an order for Big Advertizing to immediately drop the conspiracy. “We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday.. The WFA launched an initiative called Global Alliance for Responsible Media in 2019, a program through which advertizers collectively withheld “billions of dollars in advertising revenue” from X, the lawsuit states, per the Guardian. “People are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is constricted. No small group of people should monopolize what gets monetized,” wrote X CEO Linda Yaccarino in a statement. “The consequence — perhaps the intent — of this boycott was to seek to deprive X’s users, be they sports fans, gamers, journalists, activists, parents or political and corporate leaders, of the Global Town Square.”The WFA initiative was designed to “help the industry address the challenge of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising,” the organization said.
Elon Musk’s social media platform “X” (Twitter) is suing World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) over a “massive advertiser boycott,” alleging a conspiracy that violates US antitrust laws. The lawsuit alleges the companies conspired, against their own economic interests, to pull advertising from the platform and cause it to lose out on “billions” in revenue after skyrocketing in popularity after Musk’s 2022 takeover — after which X revenue decreased significantly. Advertising was widely pulled from the platform in November 2023 after their ads were posted next to posts that were considered pro-Nazi. . X filed the lawsuit in federal court in a Texas court this week against the WFA and mega advertisers individually, including Unilever, Mars, Orsted, CVS and others. It seeks an unspecified amount in damages and an order for Big Advertizing to immediately drop the conspiracy. “We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday.. The WFA launched an initiative called Global Alliance for Responsible Media in 2019, a program through which advertizers collectively withheld “billions of dollars in advertising revenue” from X, the lawsuit states, per the Guardian. “People are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is constricted. No small group of people should monopolize what gets monetized,” wrote X CEO Linda Yaccarino in a statement. “The consequence — perhaps the intent — of this boycott was to seek to deprive X’s users, be they sports fans, gamers, journalists, activists, parents or political and corporate leaders, of the Global Town Square.”The WFA initiative was designed to “help the industry address the challenge of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising,” the organization said.
