New Delhi: One of X’s key advertisers, Apple, will pause its advertising on the platform, according to a report from Axios. Apple follows in the footsteps of advertisers like IBM and the European Commission, who have suspended ads on X amid increased on-platform antisemitism. Per research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, X has failed to moderate hate speech on its platform that promotes antisemitic conspiracies, praises Hitler, and dehumanizes Muslims and Palestinians.
But X isn’t just keeping these posts up; its owner, Elon Musk, is fanning the flames of such hatred. In a particularly egregious incident this week, Musk replied, “You have said the actual truth” to a post that echoed the same violent antisemitic conspiracy theory that was espoused by the killer from the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue attack.
Media Matters for America, a left-leaning media watchdog, published a separate report this week, showing how ads from companies like Apple, IBM, Bravo, Oracle and Xfinity have appeared next to posts that praise Nazi ideology.
Linda Yaccarino, X’s new CEO and former advertising executive at NBCUniversal has attempted to calm advertisers, though her efforts don’t seem to be working in light of recent events.
“X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the board — I think that’s something we can and should all agree on,” she wrote on Thursday afternoon.
“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. Full stop.”
X’s advertising business has been volatile since last year when Elon Musk officially became the owner of the platform formerly known as Twitter. About a month after he took over, Musk tweeted that Apple had “mostly stopped advertising on Twitter.” But after meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook at the company’s Cupertino headquarters, the two seemed to settle some disagreements. Then, in January, the company inked deals with ad tech companies DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science (IAS) to help advertisers make sure their ad is not placed around inappropriate content, and the appointment Of Yaccarino in May was supposed to assuage advertiser’s concerns about the increasingly hostile platform. But Musk continues to dig the platform’s own grave by alienating key revenue drivers.
IBM
IBM pulled its advertising from X on Nov. 16 after the Media Matters report identified it was one of several blue-chip companies whose ads had appeared next to tweets promoting antisemitism.
“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,” the company said in a statement.
The information technology company, with a market capitalization near $140 billion, had been a “significant buyer,” according to Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters.
Apple
The maker of iPhones and MacBooks decided to pause all advertising on X on Friday after Musk endorsed an antisemitic post on the platform, according to Axios, citing unnamed sources and the New York Times. Apple was reportedly the platform’s largest advertiser, spending nearly $50 million in the first quarter of 2022.
Disney
The entertainment giant suspended advertising on the social media platform Friday, a company spokesperson said.
The entertainment giant behind a range of film, television and theme park properties has a market cap of roughly $173 billion.
Paramount
The media, streaming and entertainment company is suspending all advertising on the platform, a spokesperson said in an email to The Post on Friday. Paramount Global’s portfolio includes Paramount Pictures, CBS and Comedy Central, among other properties. In September, Musk met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Tesla’s offices in Fremont, California, for a broadcast discussion and said, “obviously I’m against antisemitism. I’m against anti-anything that promotes hate and conflict.
At the end of the long and wide-ranging conversation, Musk shared that he had attended a Jewish school while growing up in South Africa and could even sing “a great ‘Hava Nagila,’” a Jewish folk song.
