Elon Musk’s antisemitic reaction could cost the X platform $75 million

Social network X, formerly known as Twitter, typically makes more money in the last months of the year as brands ramp up their advertising campaigns for the holiday shopping season. However, according to reports, the company’s earnings report this quarter may look different than usual. More than 100 brands and even other types of advertisers, such as political candidates, have stopped advertising on the website altogether, while dozens more are considering pulling their campaigns, according to internal documents.

X is losing advertisers

Faced with the risk of losing advertisers, X could lose up to $75 million in ad revenue if it can’t somehow turn them around. This incident broke out after Elon Musk’s controversial post in which he admitted to an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

Shortly after Musk shared his tweet, media watchdog Media Matters published a report showing that ads on the website appeared right next to antisemitic content. Thereupon, X filed a lawsuit against the organization, accusing it of “knowingly and maliciously producing images showing advertisers’ posts on the X Corp.

In its complaint, X said Media Matters had deliberately created an environment to display ads from some of the platform’s largest advertisers alongside “extreme, extreme content.” The company’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, defended X in a post and said that only two users on the platform saw Apple’s advertisement next to unpleasant content. She added that one of these is Media Matters.

IBM, Apple and Disney were among the brands that quickly pulled their advertising from X following the events. While Lionsgate cited Musk’s tweet as the reason for suspending its advertising campaigns, Ubisoft became one of the first video game companies to withdraw its advertisements from X. While Airbnb stopped its $1 million ad on X, Netflix withdrew its $3 million ad. X may also lose $4 million in advertising revenue due to Microsoft subsidiaries halting their campaigns. Uber and Coca-Cola were among two other well-known brands that chose to suspend their advertising on X.