Elon Musk’s social media business X, formerly Twitter, took a turn for the worse in November 2023 when he told advertisers to “go f**k yourselves” on stage with the New York Times. At the time, Musk said he refused to be “blackmailed” into “censorship,” responding to a few big brands who cut their ad deals with X after a reported rise in anti-semitism, including controversial comments on Jews from Musk himself. The ad-dependent business expectedly suffered for months after Musk said the quiet part about advertisers out loud – perhaps too loud. On Wednesday, Musk softened his tone.
“It wasn’t to advertisers as a whole,” Musk said on stage at the Cannes Lions Festival. “It was with respect to freedom of speech, I think it is important to have a global free speech platform, where people from a wide range of opinions can voice their views.”
“In some cases, there were advertisers who were insisting on censorship,” Musk said. “At the end of the day … if we have to make a choice between censorship and losing money, [or] censorship and money, or free speech and losing money, we’re going to pick the second.”
“Of course, advertisers have a right to appear next to content that they find compatible with their brands,” he said. “That’s totally cool. What is not cool is insisting that there can be no content that they disagree with on the platforms.”
Musk retreated from his war on advertisers this week at a time when X’s ad business is seeing some signs of life. CEO and unfortunate pain sponge for all of Elon’s bad behavior, Linda Yaccarino, told employees last week that 65% of advertisers have returned since January. X has turned to smaller businesses as it struggles to recoup ad dollars from bigger brands such as Apple and Disney.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to forget Elon’s comments to DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in November. Here’s a refresher:
MUSK: “I hope they stop.”
SORKIN: “You what?”
MUSK: “Don’t advertise.”
SORKIN: “You don’t want them to advertise?”
MUSK: “If somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself.”
SORKIN: “But—”
MUSK: “Go…fuck…yourself.”
Even before Musk told advertisers to go fuck themselves, the X business was not doing well. In the first quarter of 2023, the social media platform lost $456 million.
To drive up revenue, Musk has talked about for years freeing X from the ad-supported business model. In the last year, Musk has pushed job listing, AI chatbots, and subscription services into X. The company filed for state licenses to conduct financial transactions, part of X’s plan to become the next Venmo, according to Bloomberg.
For now, however, X still primarily makes money from its advertising business. Musk may have gotten a little ahead of himself in November, as often happens, and now he’s being forced to walk back his comments. It’s clear he’s staying true to his free speech absolutist agenda, whatever that means, but now in a brand-safe way. Congratulations advertisers, it’s time to un-fuck yourselves.
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