Elon Musk’s X may lose up to $75 million by year-end due to advertiser exodus: report

Elon Musk-owned social media company X could lose up to $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of the year as dozens of major brands pause their marketing campaigns, according to the report. The New York Times reported on Friday.

Musk’s endorsement of an anti-Semitic post on the platform last week has led several companies, including Walt Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, to suspend their ads on the site formerly called Twitter.

X contracted and sued the Media Matters surveillance group, claiming that the organization defamated the platform with a report that said that advertisements of important brands, including Apple and Oracle, had appeared together with publications that promoted Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party .

Internal documents seen by The New York Times this week list more than 200 ad units from companies including Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, many of which have stopped or are considering stopping their ads on the social network, according to the report. saying.

X said on Friday that $11 million in revenue was at risk and the exact figure fluctuated as some advertisers returned to the platform and others increased spending, according to the report.

The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Advertisers have fled X since Musk bought it in October 2022 and reduced content moderation, leading to a sharp rise in hate speech on the site, according to civil rights groups.

The platform’s U.S. advertising revenue has declined by at least 55% year-over-year each month since Musk’s acquisition, Reuters previously reported.