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Major Companies Pause Running Ads on Twitter Following Elon Musk’s Acquisition
Following Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, General Mills and Audi have announced that they will pause advertising on the platform. Musk responded to advertisers stopping their ad purchases in general by saying the company has experienced a “massive drop in revenue,” adding that he believes the drop is “extremely messed up!” They are attempting to destroy free speech in America.”
According to CBS News, General Mills and Audi confirmed on Thursday that they will suspend Twitter advertising following Elon Musk's takeover of the company. General Mills spokesperson Kelsey Roemhildt told CNN in a statement: “We have paused advertising on Twitter. As always, we will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend.”
Audi released a separate statement, saying: “We have currently paused paid support on Twitter and will continue to evaluate the situation.” The Wall Street Journal also mentioned that Pfizer and Mondalez plan on pausing ads on the platform, but the companies have not released a statement yet.
Elon Musk responded to the move by major advertisers on Twitter:
Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.
Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
General Motors previously stated that it would suspend paying for Twitter advertising while it monitors the company's “new direction.” Toyota, meanwhile, said that it is “in discussions with key stakeholders and monitoring the situation” on Twitter.
Interpublic Group, an ad-buying firm that works with consumer brands like Unilever and Coca-Cola, suggested to its clients this week that they stop advertising on the platform.
Following months of uncertainty about Musk's acquisition of Twitter, advertisers are now concerned about how Musk will change the company, which is considered weak in the digital marketing sector despite its enormous political and journalistic power. Musk has stated that he hopes to reconsider Twitter's content regulation policies, but he has met with the NAACP and ADL, among other leftist pressure groups, since then.
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