Elon Musk triumphant as IBM, Disney, and Comcast end yearlong advertising boycott on X



Big-name brands have ended their advertising boycott against Elon Musk's X after approximately a year of refusing to support the platform.

Comcast, Discovery, Disney, IBM, Lionsgate Entertainment, and Warner Bros. have resumed their ad spending on X, with Musk thanking CEO Linda Yaccarino for her work on bringing the companies back onto his platform.

"Just want to say that we super appreciate major brands resuming advertising on our platform!" Musk wrote. "Thanks [Linda Yaccarino] and the whole X team for your hard work in restoring confidence in our platform and ensuring that advertising content only appears where advertisers want it shown."

In November 2023, the brands mentioned above (along with Apple) dialed back their ad campaigns after claims their branding appeared next to "anti-Semetic content" and "hate speech," AdWeek reported.

'The censorship apparatus is coming to an end.'

Without the major companies, brands like Karma Shopping and Canles Shoes became the top ad-buyers on X. Overall, ad revenue dropped by a reported 98% year over year, but Musk remained principled in his cause.

"I'll say what I want to say, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it," Musk told CNBC at the time.

Political commentator Ian Miles Cheong called the boycott a failed effort "the moment Donald Trump won the election."

"The censorship apparatus is coming to an end, and the advertisers know it. Beyond that, advertisers can undoubtedly see the strength of X, and depriving themselves of profits for the sake of sticking it to Elon clearly doesn't work," Cheong added.

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The new report comes after claims in September that there would be a mass exodus of advertisers from the platform over concerns of "extreme content" that could damage brand images.

However, that was after X announced a lawsuit against major advertisers in August, following a House Judiciary Committee report that pointed to an illegal boycott against the company.

The World Federation of Advertisers, which represents some of the world's largest companies and advertisers, was accused of directly organizing boycotts and targeting disfavored platforms, content creators, and news organizations in an effort to demonetize them.

BlazeTV host James Poulos said the smoke surrounding the advertising conflict was cleared once the nature of the report was revealed.

"Rather than mild-mannered normies afraid of controversial content on X, advertisers operate as a cartel of far-left propagandists, reaping profits from taxpayers on government contracts while conspiring to silence free speech at odds with their radical ideologies."

Concurrently, many left-wing celebrities are announcing plans to leave X. This includes MSNBC's Joy Reid, who said she doesn't want to support the platform, and ex-CNN host Don Lemon, who claimed he disagrees with the new terms of service.

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'Now it is war': Elon Musk and X sue advertisers over illegal boycott that allegedly cost the company billions



X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced a lawsuit against advertisers after a House Judiciary Committee report revealed an illegal boycott against the company.

The report, titled "GARM's (Global Alliance for Responsible Media) Harm," detailed the work of the World Federation of Advertisers, which controls GARM and represents some of the world's largest companies and advertisers.

According to a report by the New York Post, the WFA controls 90% of global marketing spending, which amounts to $1 trillion per year and includes companies like Disney and Coca-Cola.

'The illegal behavior of these organizations and their executives cost X billions of dollars.'

In a post made directly on X, Yaccarino remarked, "I thought I had seen everything."

"The report disclosed that their investigation had found evidence of an illegal boycott against many companies, including X," the CEO continued.

Yaccarino then announced an antitrust lawsuit against GARM, the WFA, and GARM members CVS Health, Mars, Orsted, and Unilever.

"This is not a decision we took lightly, but it is a direct consequence of their actions," she added.

X owner Elon Musk shared Yaccarino's X post and simply added, "We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war."

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Yaccarino boasted of X's growing numbers, noting that despite being an effective platform for advertisers and even surpassing requests made by GARM itself, the company still lost billions.

"The illegal behavior of these organizations and their executives cost X billions of dollars."

The CEO pointed out that the House committee obtained evidence that showed "GARM and its members directly organized boycotts and used other indirect tactics to target disfavored platforms, content creators, and news organizations in an effort to demonetize and, in effect, limit certain choices for consumers.'"

BlazeTV's James Poulos said that conflict between Musk and X's advertisers has been escalating for years, and now the reason for that has finally become clear.

"Rather than mild-mannered normies afraid of controversial content on X, advertisers operate as a cartel of far-left propagandists, reaping profits from taxpayers on government contracts while conspiring to silence free speech at odds with their radical ideologies."

Poulos added that the "ugly truth" about the matter is that "corporate cartels" have been revealed to have a stranglehold on online discourse and national politics.

"No group, whatever its beliefs, should wield such control over the bounds of our words and thoughts on the most fundamental issues. Fortunately, antitrust law offers a powerful tool to help protect us from that kind of silent digital coup against our constitutionally guaranteed rights and form of government," he concluded.

The House report also reportedly obtained internal emails from the advertising alliance that showed its head, Robert Rakowitz, allegedly bragging that X was "80% below revenue forecasts" since the company was targeted.

Rakowitz later claimed the email was a "self-effacing joke."

CVS Health, Orsted, Mars, and Unilever have not released public statements on the matter and did not respond to requests for comment from the New York Post or Fox News.

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MIC DROP: Elon Tells Left-Wing Advertisers, 'Go F*** Yourself' | 11/30/23

MIC DROP: Elon Tells Left-Wing Advertisers, 'Go F*** Yourself' | 11/30/23