‘It’s war’: Elon Musk’s X sues companies for not advertising on his platform | Business News

Elon Musk’s OX initiated legal action against a number of companies after they stopped advertising on the social network.

The tech giant, formerly known as Twitter, alleges that companies illegally conspired to boycott the site and caused it to lose “billions of dollars” in revenue.

The lawsuit was filed in Texas against the World Federation of Advertisers and member companies, British multinational Unilever, food giant Mars, CVS Health and Danish renewable energy company Orsted.

Musk wrote on X: “We tried for peace for two years, now it’s war.”

This comes after X’s advertising revenue fell following Musk bought and renamed the social network for US$44 billion (£35 billion) in 2022.

A few days after taking command, Musk made thousands of employees laid off – including many moderation employees tasked with removing harmful content.

The companies also suspended advertising on the site in November 2023 due to concerns that its content would appear alongside pro-Nazi posts, with the owner of X also accused of spreading hate speech.

Musk later apologized for endorsing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory but he also told advertisers to “fuck off.”

The tech billionaire has come under increasing criticism over his management of the site, which he was most recently accused of failing to combat misinformation spread during the riots in England.

The suit alleges that the advertisers – acting through a World Federation of Advertisers initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) – conspired in a way that violated U.S. antitrust laws.

The scheme was launched in 2019 to “help the industry address the challenge of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization through advertising”.

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X is seeking unspecified damages as well as a court order against any continued efforts to conspire to withhold advertising expenditures.

It stated that it has applied brand safety standards that are comparable to those of its competitors and that “meet or exceed” the measures specified by GARM.

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X chief executive Linda Yaccarino said: “People are hurt when the marketplace for ideas is restricted. No small group of people should monopolize what is monetised.”

Professor Christine Bartholomew, an antitrust expert at the University at Buffalo, said X would have to prove there was a boycott agreement that each advertiser had joined, which she described as “no small hurdle.”

She added that even if the case were successful, Musk could not legally force companies to advertise on X.

The companies accused by X have not yet commented on the process.

However, Unilever, which owns brands including Dove, Persil and Wall’s, told a congressional hearing last month that it only advertises on platforms that don’t harm its brand.

The company’s president, Herrish Patel, said in a statement: “Unilever, and only Unilever, controls our advertising spend. No platform has a right to our advertising dollars.”