Citing its sources, Axios says that Apple has stopped advertising on the platform for the second time since Elon Musk purchased Twitter. This time the decision to stop spending ad money on what is now known as “X” came after Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory that was posted on the site. 164 Jewish rabbis and activists demanded that companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, and Disney stop advertising on “X”.
Apple, a major advertiser on “X,” has joined IBM, Disney, Sony, Warner Bros. Discovery, Lionsgate, and Paramount Global. A report by Media Matters for America says that certain advertisers, including Apple, IBM, Amazon and Oracle, had their ads on “X” placed next to posts considered to be from far-right subscribers.
In response to a post on “X” that claimed Jewish communities support “dialectical hatred against whites,” Musk replied, “[y]ou have said the actual truth,” The comment by Musk drew a rebuke from the White House. White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said, “It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of Antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
“X” CEO Linda Yaccarino responded to the criticism via a tweet in which she wrote, “X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the board — I think that’s something we can and should all agree on. Regarding this platform — X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There’s no place for it anywhere in the world — it’s ugly and wrong. Full stop.”
Musk purchased Twitter last year paying $44 billion for the social media platform. After changing the name of the site from Twitter to “X,” the multi-billionaire revealed plans to turn “X” into a multi-functional “super app” like China’s WeChat which offers social media capabilities along with mobile payment features. But if “X” is unable to keep some of its high-spending advertisers, it will need to find some new sources of income besides X Premium.