General Mills and Audi are the most recent major advertisers to stop ads on Twitter over uncertainty regarding the social media platform’s future operations under new owner Elon Musk.
Thursday, spokeswoman Kelsey Roemhildt confirmed the move by the Minneapolis-based manufacturer of Cheerios and Annie’s macaroni and cheese. “As always, we will continue to analyze our marketing expenditures and monitor this new path,” she said.
Whaewon Choi-Wiles, a representative for Audi, stated that the German automaker is stopping advertising and “will continue to analyze the issue.”
Advertisers are anxious about whether content filtering will continue to be as severe under Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” and whether their brands would be tarnished by remaining on Twitter.
Musk promised advertisers that he would not allow Twitter to become a “free-for-all hellscape,” indicating that there would still be consequences for those who violate Twitter’s rules against harassment, violence, and election and COVID-related misinformation.
09:04 Elon Musk’s leadership style as Twitter’s CEO.
Since then, though, some users have posted racial slurs and recirculated disproved conspiracy theories in an apparent attempt to test whether the site’s rules are still enforced.
Spike in hate speech
Researchers from Montclair State University discovered that Twitter was significantly more “aggressive” in the 12 hours following Musk’s takeover. To determine the severity, the researchers examined tweets containing “vulgar and aggressive” language directed at persons based on their race, religion, ethnicity, and orientation, such as the “n-word,” “k-word,” and “f-word.” They discovered a “immediate, observable, and quantifiable increase” in these phrases.
More than 67 percent of the tweets sent after Musk’s takeover had a hostile tone, according to researchers.
The NAACP announced this week that it had sent its concerns to Musk on “the dangerous, life-threatening hatred and conspiracies that have grown on Twitter under his watch.”
General Motors stated last week that it has temporarily suspended its Twitter advertising in order to “understand the direction of the platform.” GM described the delay as a routine step when a media platform undergoes a substantial transformation.
According to a person who saw the recommendation, IPG Mediabrands advised customers on Monday to halt advertising on Twitter for a week until more clarity arises regarding brand safety on the site.
Other major Twitter sponsors, including Warner Discovery, Coca-Cola, and Nestle, declined to comment on their advertising strategies.
After the first meeting of Twitter’s new “content moderation council,” some may reevaluate their strategies. Musk has stated that he will not reinstate any accounts or make any content choices prior to the meeting. There has been no announcement of a meeting date.
After Twitter’s takeover, Elon Musk removes key executives at 02:00.
About 90% of Twitter’s revenue comes from advertising, yet it is by no means the most popular digital marketing platform. Google, Amazon, and Meta account for around 75% of digital advertisements, with all other platforms accounting for the remaining 25%.
According to forecasts by Insider Intelligence, Twitter will account for 0.9% of worldwide digital ad spending in 2022. In 2022, meta will account for 21.4%.
In the past week, Twitter has lost the majority of its senior executives, including the person in charge of advertising sales. Sarah Personette, the site’s chief customer officer, tweeted earlier this week that she resigned from Twitter on Friday and that her work access was terminated Monday evening. She previously stated that she had a “wonderful conversation” with Musk and was optimistic about the company’s future.
She stated in her Tuesday resignation letter that she still feels Twitter’s new leadership recognizes the need of respecting the “brand safety” principles she tried to promote.