Apple apparently followed IBM in removing ads from X, the old Twitter, after Elon Musk, the platform’s owner, published content endorsing conspiracy theories against Jews, endorsing white nationalism, and escalating his spat with the Anti-Defamation League.
The list is increasing; later on Friday, the New York Times said Disney will halt advertising on X, and CNBC observed the same for Warner Bros. Discovery. Axios cites anonymous sources in a report about Apple stopping advertising on X. According to a different story from Axios, Paramount and Comcast / NBCUniversal have also halted their advertisements.
His remarks from yesterday were emphasized by the nonprofit Media Matters, along with corporate ads that X positioned next to pro-Hitler and pro-Nazi content. After IBM stopped running advertisements on Thursday, the business told The Verge that it will look into “this completely unacceptable situation.”
Ads for at least two more groups have also stopped running today. Politico reported that the European Commission wrote an internal memo to leaders stating that it had halted advertising there because to “widespread concerns relating to the spread of disinformation.” Bloomberg says that Lionsgate “has suspended all advertising on X, effective immediately.”
Apple has been one of the biggest advertisers on the platform, according to sources who spoke with Alex Heath of The Verge. It frequently paid advertisements for new items and customized “hashflag” emoji animations for prominent occasions, which altered the way the like button behaved on posts that were tagged in them. Musk Elon
Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed the company’s ongoing partnership with X in a September interview with CBS Sunday Morning, stating, “There are some things about it I don’t like,” and describing antisemitism as disgusting. Additionally, he stated that Apple is always debating whether or not to run advertisements on X, but he made no indications at the time that they will.
Updated @ 8:40 PM ET on November 17th: There is also a story stating that NBCUniversal and Paramount have stopped running ads on X.
