Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, has sued a group of advertisers, accusing them of a massive boycott that cost the company billions of dollars in ad revenue and violated antitrust laws.
The company filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, August 6th in a federal court in Texas.
The companies being sued by X are all part of the World Federation of Advertisers. Notable names among these include Unilever, Mars, Orsted, and CVS Health.
Elon Musk, X accuse World Federation of Advertisers of plotting to stop advertising
Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter was anything but smooth. His heavy focus on free speech caused advertisers to become concerned about the type of content that would be posted on the site.
In turn, X now accuses the Global Alliance for Responsible Media of being complicit in coordinating a pause in advertising after Musk took over the social network company in 2022.
Musk commented on the lawsuit on his platform, defiantly stating, “Now it’s war.” However, this is not the first time he has spoken defiantly to X advertisers.
At a 2023 panel with The New York Times, he said, “Is somebody trying to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money?” and then used profanity to dismiss them.
The lawsuit filed by X focuses on Musk’s takeover in 2022 rather than on more recent legal battles between the platform and former advertisers. A year after Elon Musk took over Twitter, advertisers stopped marketing on the platform due to concerns about ads appearing next to hate speech.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino posted a video commenting on the lawsuit
According to Yaccarino, the lawsuit follows evidence uncovered by the United States Judiciary Committee, which showed that a “group of companies organized a systematic illegal boycott” against X.
This committee, led by Republicans, evaluated whether current laws are sufficient to prevent anti-competitive attitudes in online advertising. Commenting on the hearing, Yaccarino stated she was “shocked” to learn about the evidence uncovered by the committee. “It is just wrong,” she added.
Yaccarino also spoke directly to X users, saying:
“The Global Alliance for Responsible Media, the World Federation of Advertisers, and four of its members targeted our company and you, our users.”
Yaccarino went as far as to suggest that advertisers’ actions put the “global town square” and idea marketplace that is X at risk, saying, “People are hurt when they are not allowed to express themselves.”
