Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter last week has resulted in at least six major companies withdrawing their advertising over worries about how he will impact content moderation policies on the platform.
Major companies have pulled out of advertising on Twitter following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform last week, claiming they are worried about how Musk’s leadership will impact content moderation practices on the app. Big business signaled its collective stoppage of Twitter advertising when Interpublic Group, the ad-buying giant which works with consumer brands such as Unilever, Hyundai, Domino’s Pizza, and Coca Cola, suggested this week that its clients halt advertising on the platform.
While this list is expected to grow, here are the companies currently pausing their ads on Elon Musk’s platform.
General Mills
Breitbart News previously reported that General Mills confirmed on Thursday that it will be pausing advertising on Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover of the firm. Kelsey Roemhildt, a spokesperson for General Mills, told CNN in a statement: “We have paused advertising on Twitter. As always, we will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend.”
Audi
Audi said in a statement: “We have currently paused paid support on Twitter and will continue to evaluate the situation.”
Pfizer
Pfizer announced that it is pausing ads on the platform, a move met by widespread derision on the platform.
Mondelez
Mondelez, the company behind Oreo cookies and many other consumer brands, also announced that they are pausing ads on the platform.
General Motors
Last week, Detroit-based General Motors said it would stop advertising on Twitter, citing the need to “understand the direction of the platform.” GM said in a statement that it is currently “engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under their new ownership” and “as is the normal course of business with a significant change in a media platform, we have temporarily paused our paid advertising. Our customer care interactions on Twitter will continue.”
Volkswagen
Volkswagen, one of the largest car makers in the world, has also reportedly halted advertising on the platform.
Elon Musk responded to what he described as a “Massive drop” in advertising revenue for Twitter, saying: “Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan