26 percent of advertisers are planning to reduce their spending on Elon Musk’s X platform, citing concerns about the platform’s content and trust in the information shared, according to a new global survey.
The Guardian reports that a recent study conducted by data firm Kantar has revealed that the advertiser exodus from Elon Musk’s X platform, formerly known as Twitter, is rapidly gathering pace. The research, based on interviews with 18,000 consumers and 1,000 senior marketers worldwide, found that 26 percent of marketers are planning to cut back on their ad spend on X in 2025.
The exodus has been fueled by growing concerns among advertisers about the platform’s content and the trust in the information disseminated on X. Elon Musk’s behavior on the platform, where he boasts nearly 200 million followers, has contributed to the backlash from advertisers who have either reduced or stopped running promotions on X.
Gonca Bubani, a director at Kantar, emphasized the importance of trust for marketers, stating, “Marketers are brand custodians and need to trust the platforms they use. X has changed so much in recent years and can be unpredictable from one day to the next. It is difficult to feel confident about your brand safety in that environment.”
The Kantar study, which has been conducted annually for several years, highlights the rapid acceleration of the advertiser exodus. In 2024, 14 percent of marketers said they would pull their budgets from X, a figure that has nearly doubled to 26 percent for 2025.
Data from eMarketer further underscores the platform’s rapid commercial decline in recent years. The company’s global revenues peaked in 2021 at $4.46 billion. However, since Musk’s acquisition of the platform at the end of 2022, revenues have more than halved. Annual revenue is forecast to fall to $1.9 billion by the end of this year.
Bubani noted that advertisers have been shifting their marketing spend away from X for several years, and the stark acceleration of this trend in the past 12 months suggests that a turnaround is unlikely.
In addition to the advertiser exodus, Musk faces a range of other commercial headaches, including a recent ban on X in Brazil. The Brazilian supreme court voted unanimously to uphold the ban after the company refused to comply with court orders requiring the removal of profiles accused of spreading disinformation and failed to name a local legal representative. Brazil is one of X’s largest global markets, with more than 20 million users.
The Kantar research also indicates that marketers’ trust in ads on X continues to decrease, falling from 22 percent in 2022 to just 12 percent this year. Only four percent of marketers believe that ads on X provide brand safety.
In response to the advertiser pullback, X has taken legal action, suing a global advertising alliance and several major companies, including Unilever, Mars, and CVS Health. Musk accused them of unlawfully conspiring to shun the social network and intentionally causing it to lose revenue.
An X spokesperson defended the platform, stating, “Advertisers know that X now offers stronger brand safety, performance and analytics capabilities than ever before, while seeing all-time-high levels of usage. Our brand safety rate is on average 99 percent as validated by DoubleVerify and Integral Ads Science, which is reflected by the fact that the majority of advertisers are increasing their investment in X, as shown by Kantar’s data.”
Read more at the Guardian here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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