X Set to Lose $75 Million Amidst Advertiser Pause

Elon Musk's X is set to lose up to $75 million as multiple significant companies continue to pause their advertisements on the application, as reported by Reuters, citing the New York Times as its source. X proved to contest the actual revenue at stake.

Concerns about Musk and the platform have stretched well beyond IBM, Apple, and Disney, who suspended their advertising efforts on X last week, according to the New York Times. Approximately 200 firms are indicated to have "fully paused" their advertisements, while dozens more are classified as "at risk."

As per the report, internal papers obtained this week show more than 200 ad units from firms, including Airbnb, that paused over $1 million in advertising. Uber reduced over $800,000 in advertising, breaking efforts in domestic and foreign markets.

Other significant businesses, such as Jack in the Box, Coca-Cola, and Netflix, have suspended portions of their advertising. According to X, Netflix's paused advertisements were worth approximately $3 million. Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft have also stopped or are contemplating suspending their advertisements on social networks.

X's Contest on Ad Revenue Loss Report

X contested the actual advertisement revenue at stake as the social media platform claimed in a statement on Friday that $11 million in revenue was the exact amount in danger, with the actual sum fluctuating as some advertisers returned to the site and others upped spending.

According to the corporation, the statistics The Times saw were either out of date or part of an internal risk assessment exercise.

Musk's support for an anti-Semitic message post on X back in November 15 stating that the conspiracy theory of Jews encouraging the influx of minorities to replace white populations was "the actual truth," on the platform. This prompted numerous firms, including Walt Disney and Warner Bros Discovery, to halt advertising on the site formerly known as Twitter.

X responded after that by suing media watchdog group Media Matters, arguing that the organization defamed the platform with a report alleging that advertisements for big businesses like Apple and Oracle appeared next to messages praising Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.

Variety reports that the lawsuit will be extensive in that Musk reportedly said in a post on X that the legal action will target "their board, their donors, their network of dark money, all of them ..."

X's Continuous Advertisement Decrease

The advertisement pause is during the last three months of the year, generally the social media company's best quarter as advertisers conduct holiday campaigns for events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In the final three months of 2021 - the last year the firm released fourth-quarter numbers before Musk took over - the company earned $1.57 billion in sales, with advertising accounting for over 90%.

According to human rights groups, advertisers have deserted X since Musk purchased it in October 2022 and lowered content monitoring, leading to a dramatic increase in hate speech on the platform.

Outcast's vice president of digital marketing and social media, Leesha Anderson, reportedly said customers gradually stopped spending on X after Mr. Musk took control and discovered alternatives on sites such as LinkedIn and TikTok.