More advertisers halt spending on X in growing backlash against Musk

[ekianjo]

Lools like the monetization to move away from relying on ads was the right one all along

[3cats-in-a-coat]

The monetization currently is bringing revenue less than one percent of their ad revenue. With no signs of improvement.

That’s like having to go to work 100 miles away, intentionally crashing your car and going like “well, looks like putting on my running shoes this morning turned out right all along!”

[clipsy]

That would require it actually being sufficient to pay the bills, which at present it is very far from.

[roenxi]

There is a lot here to be think about. Three most interesting points to me are

1. These companies have bottom-of-the-barrel moral standards and don't care what one person on Twitter is Tweeting. This has to be political manoeuvring of some sort.

2. A lot of advertisers were quitting Twitter a while ago weren't they? But it has been months now. If they're still quitting, that suggests the flood of quitters is more of a small trickle. So this the first time all these companies have quit? Or is it that the media companies are quitting this round?

3. Musk is still the wealthiest human on the planet (in history? I expect in nominal terms he's the wealthiest in history). Twitter is a bit of a political sideshow for him. He might even decide to run it without ads, that'd hurt him financially and be a win for the rest of us.

[mmcwilliams]

This is an odd take. Today on Twitter I saw an ad for a whites-only dating service with the photo of a celebrity who very likely did not endorse the company with the use of a racial slur (with an "r" at the end). Whatever you think about the "moral standards" of the companies in question, it makes sense that they would not want to put their brand on the same platform that would serve these ads alongside theirs. That doesn't seem to be political maneuvering but very basic advertising sense.

[iamdbtoo]

> These companies have bottom-of-the-barrel moral standards and don't care what one person on Twitter is Tweeting.

Advertisers have cared about placement for as long as advertising has existed.

[TerrifiedMouse]

> 1. These companies have bottom-of-the-barrel moral standards and don't care what one person on Twitter is Tweeting. This has to be political manoeuvring of some sort.

Or they just don’t want their brand associated with such posts. As kids these days say, “They don’t want no smoke”.

These companies are about making money. Getting associated with controversial stuff is bad for business.

[viraptor]

Lots of companies quit then returned. I don't know if these ones are in the first batch of quitting, but it may be the second time for them rather than "a trickle".

[throw0101b]

> 3. Musk is still the wealthiest human on the planet (in history? I expect in nominal terms he's the wealthiest in history).

John D. Rockefeller would like to have a word if we're talking about Americans, as would Carnegie and Vanderbilt:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_richest_Americans_in_h...

Internationally: Augustus Caesar, Emperor Shenzong, Akbar I:

* https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/31976...

[manicennui]

And the gold medal in mental gymnastics goes to...

Twitter has never been a great platform to advertise on, the quality of the advertisers has dropped dramatically this year, and companies are distancing themselves from the clown show. There is no secret conspiracy. Advertising on Twitter just doesn't make sense.

[pxmpxm]

Not sure why the downvotes - this definitely seems to be a coordinated effort, rather than one off brand-management exercise by IBM, but to what end I have no idea. Evidently Media Matters is somehow inciting this?

[greyface-]

Syndicated from NYT, original URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/18/technology/elon-musk-twit...

[dang]

Thanks, let's use that above since it's the canonical source.

Submitted link was https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/nov/18/more-advertise..., which appears to be unpaywalled.

[matisseverduyn]

The reason for the lawsuit [1] seems to contradict itself; it's against spreading misinformation on X, while invoking the principle of allowing misinformation on X?

> "But for speech to be truly free, we must also have the freedom to see or hear things that some people may consider objectionable. We believe that everyone has the right to make up their own minds about what to read..."

So... "Let [Media Matters] say what you [consider objectionable], and [let us make up our own minds about what to read]."

I do get that that shouldn't preclude lawsuits for slander/libel... but suing people out of existence with "thermonuclear" lawsuits seems to be roughly the same type of tyranny as the censoring he's taking a stand against.

[1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1725771191644758037

[anonymouskimmer]

Ultimately this sort of thing gets justified as "I'm picking on people my own size", or "I'm defending the regular person against these other powerful entities".

Even billionaires like to think of themselves as Robin Hoods.

[dorkwood]

As Sun Tzu said, when you are strong, appear weak.

[kuhewa]

Besides the strong (when they are expertly deploying an elaborate ruse), you know who else often appears weak?

The weak.

[Pxtl]

Napoleon said "never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake".

[JaDogg]

Haha, the US is leaning towards the right wing, and Elon probably has an advantage in doing what he did. Similarly, he mentioned that AI needs to stop, but then proceeded with AI projects. He says what grabs attention to divert from what he truly wants to do.

[totallywrong]

This guy would be considered a genius, admired and respected worldwide, a living legend.. if he'd never opened that Twitter account. But he did, so he's just another eccentric rich idiot.

[more_corn]

It is better to remain silent and be thought an idiot than to speak and remove all doubt.

[2OEH8eoCRo0]

I think he needs the twitter hype and bots to boost his brands and stock value. I wouldn't be surprised if he were funding these bots to boost himself.

[spbaar]

What is all the honor and glory in the world weighed against the siren's call of being a poster that people find funny?

[flashback2199]

Strange that you don't think his twitter account helped him get all that media attention along the way.

[daniel_iversen]

SpaceX, Tesla, Starlink, Neuralink, Boring Company, are you serious that because of some dumb tweets and a questionable personality or political views not everyone agrees with, you think history will overlook all of this? Not a chance, sorry.

[Pxtl]

Musk is now the poster child for ruining your own success via social media.

He had the world in his hand and now he's an internet-poisoned laughing-stock chasing away all the advertisers.