Science & Tech

All the brands that have paused advertising after antisemitic Elon Musk's X post

All the brands that have paused advertising after antisemitic Elon Musk's X post
Elon Musk Expresses Support For Antisemitic Post On X
unbranded - Newsworthy / VideoElephant

In the latest instalment of Elon Musk’s Twitter (or X) falling to pieces, Apple has reportedly halted advertising on the social media platform, according to sources close to the tech giant cited by Axios.

The news, part of a wider advertiser exodus this week, comes after Musk backed an antisemitic tweet on Wednesday which claimed Jewish communities have a “dialectical hatred” of white people and said the poster had “said the actual truth”.

White nationalist Nick Fuentes praised the antisemitic tweet as “what we were saying at Charlottesville” when white supremacist marchers in 2017 were saying “Jews will not replace us”.

That chant relates to the baseless, racist 'great replacement' conspiracy theory that white people in Western countries are being “replaced” by non-white people.

The CEO of Jewish charity the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, slammed Musk and said it was “indisputably dangerous” to “validate and promote antisemitic theories” when antisemitism is “exploding in America”.

Even the White House stepped in to condemn Musk’s actions, calling it an “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate”.

The Musk-appointed CEO of Twitter/X, Linda Yaccarino, took to the platform on Thursday to respond to the backlash, writing that the platform’s view “has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the board”.

She added: “When it comes to this platform, X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There’s no place for it anywhere in the world – it’s ugly and wrong.”

But that didn’t do much to reassure advertisers, as a number of companies confirmed they were pulling out of running ads on Twitter/X following a report by the organisation Media Matters on Thursday which showed ads by companies such as Apple and IBM.

And Musk - ever the free speech absolutist - has responded by announcing X will be filing a "thermonuclear lawsuit" against Media Matters "and all those who colluded in this fraudulent attack" on Monday, sharing an image which called on people to "stand with X to support free speech".

So which companies have finally called it quits when it comes to advertising on Twitter/X?

Apple

As mentioned above, Axios reported on Friday that the company was pausing adds on the social media platform.

IBM

The tech firm pulled out of advertising on Twitter on Thursday.

In a statement published by the Financial Times, IBM said: "IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation."

Lionsgate

On Friday, Bloomberg said it had received an email from a company spokesman confirming the film studio behind SAW X and the new Hunger Games prequel had paused advertising.

Disney

This was first reported by the New York Times.

Warner Bros. Discovery

Several outlets are saying the entertainment company which owns the likes of HBO, CNN, discovery+ and HGTV has joined others in pausing adverts.

Paramount Global

CNBC reporter Alex Sherman confirmed the company behind Channel 5, Comedy Central and MTV had said ta-ta to Twitter on Saturday.

Comcast

This includes its subsidiary, NBCUniversal, which is the organisation Yaccarino left Twitter for.

Awkward.

Sony

Their move comes just weeks after the company said it will remove X integration from products such as its PlayStations.

We’ll update this list with further companies if/when they emerge…

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