IBM-led advertising X-odus gains steam as more flee Musk's platform
- Reference: 1700505010
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/11/20/ibmled_advertising_xodus_gains_steam/
- Source link:
As we [1]reported at the end of last week, IBM pulled advertising from the platform in the wake of a report by Media Matters that found several ads from IBM, Apple, Oracle and other big names had appeared alongside antisemitic posts. The Media Matters report itself followed Musk's endorsement of the great replacement conspiracy theory, which claims a global Jewish cabal is trying to flood majority White countries with minority immigrants. Musk has since stressed he is not antisemetic.
Media Matters has since published a [2]second report which claims to have found ads for Major League Baseball, eBay, and pharmaceutical titan Bayer next to posts advocating the murder of LGBTQ activists and politicians, and other prominent brands advertised alongside hate content.
[3]
Now it [4]appears Apple, Disney, Warner Brothers Discovery, Paramount, Lions Gate, and Comcast have all joined IBM in a boycott of advertising on X, and CEO Linda Yaccarino is increasingly in the hot seat over her decision to defend Musk's antics.
[5]
[6]
We also note there is a downturn in advertising spending among corporations generally. We've also not heard of advertisers pulling out of other social networks, which no doubt also have problematic content on them, though on the other hand: those networks don't have an owner openly sharing thoughts on weird theories, which is bound to rattle big risk-adverse brands.
"Protecting the freedom of speech could not be more urgent and important. Now, more than ever," Yaccarino [7]said on Saturday.
[8]
Multiple advertising executives have [9]reportedly contacted Yaccarino in the wake of the Media Matters report and Musk's inflammatory comments, allegedly telling the X CEO that she is risking her reputation as an advertising and commercial partnership dealmaker by remaining at X's helm. According to Forbes, which said it confirmed the advertising leaders' pleas to Yaccarino, they urged her to step down as a way to make a statement about the problem of racism and antisemitism on X, but she has so far resisted.
We've asked Twitter to respond to questions about the tumultuous past few days, but haven't heard back.
Meanwhile, some right-leaning media outfits and companies have pledged to book ads on X in response to the boycott. We're unsure if they'll be able to cover the shortfall from Disney et al .
We could have a SLAPP fight on our hands
In a [10]blog post over the weekend, X's safety team said Media Matters' reporting "completely misrepresented the real user experience on X, in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers."
X restated much of what it told us last week - that Media Matters had refreshed posts repeatedly to get the right ads to show up, which X called "a rare instance" that only occurred in Media Matters being served 13 times the number of ads an average X user would see.
[11]
Of the offending posts in the [12]original Media Matters report, X claimed only one post violated X's content policies, and it was removed. It's unclear which was removed, but the posts Media Matters identified supported the Nazi regime as a source of spiritual awakening, denied the existence of the holocaust and promoted supposedly positive aspects of the Third Reich.
[13]CEO of self-driving cab outfit Cruise parks his career
[14]Control Altman delete: OpenAI fires CEO, chairman quits
[15]IBM pauses advertising on X after ads show up next to antisemitic content
[16]Vote now on who should take the lead in Musk: The Movie
Musk threatened Media Matters with a " [17]thermonuclear lawsuit " over the weekend (that for some reason couldn't be filed electronically and had to wait until "the split second court opens on Monday"), but it's unclear if they've much of a legal leg to stand on. Instead, an actual filing could open X up to claims of a [18]SLAPP lawsuit - the ads may not have shown up many times, but they did show up, as X itself admitted.
"Far from the free speech advocate he claims to be, Musk is a bully who threatens meritless lawsuits in an attempt to silence reporting that he even confirmed is accurate," Media Matters president Angelo Carusone [19]said of X's legal threats. "Musk admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified. If he does sue us, we will win."
In a statement sent to The Register , Media Matters' Carusone, said:
“At issue here is whether X’s ad filtering operates in the way they say it does. X claims that ads won’t appear adjacent to extremist content. We’ve shown in several reports, including the one at issue that X confirmed was accurate, that the system is not functioning as described.” ®
Get our [20]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/17/ibm_pauses_advertising_on_x/
[2] https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/x-placing-ads-amazon-nba-mexico-nbcuniversal-and-others-next-content-white-nationalist
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZVvlFOP41bSquFSuPZ0i5wAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/17/apple-has-paused-advertising-on-x-after-musk-promoted-antisemitic-tweet.html
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZVvlFOP41bSquFSuPZ0i5wAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZVvlFOP41bSquFSuPZ0i5wAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://twitter.com/lindayaX?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZVvlFOP41bSquFSuPZ0i5wAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnpaczkowski/2023/11/19/linda-yaccarino-x-twitter-elon-musk-antisemitism-urged-to-resign/?sh=7ba825183929
[10] https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2023/stand-with-x-to-protect-free-speech
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZVvlFOP41bSquFSuPZ0i5wAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/musk-endorses-antisemitic-conspiracy-theory-x-has-been-placing-ads-apple-bravo-ibm-oracle
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/20/cruise_ceo_kyle_vogt_quits/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/17/openais_board_of_directors_fire/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/17/ibm_pauses_advertising_on_x/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/15/who_will_take_the_leader/
[17] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1725771191644758037
[18] https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/slapp_suit#:~:text=Primary%20tabs,continuing%20to%20produce%20negative%20publicity.
[19] https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/angelo-carusone-responds-elon-musks-legal-threat-over-media-matters-reporting
[20] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Marketing = prefessional bullsheit
In other news...
Bears defecate in arboreal areas
Popes tend to be of the non-protestant but still Chritian faith
Elon Musk is a cunt
carry on
What reputation is left for her to ruin after becoming a Musk-puppet?
Hey IBM, Apple and the rest
Why not save yourself a shed load of money and stop spending on X for good?
That might (who am I kidding) persuade Musk that he is going to kill the platform if he carries on the way he is at the moment. His paymasters (the Saudi's) won't like that.
I wonder if he wll mysteriously fall out of a window? It has to be a possibility he has to consider.
Re: Hey IBM, Apple and the rest
I seem to recall chopping people up in a Saudi embassy is more their style.
Re: Hey IBM, Apple and the rest
The Saudis only contributed a few billion to buying Twitter, they make and lose 10x that much just from daily oil price fluctuations so I doubt they are too worried about losing that money if Twitter goes under. They killed Khashoggi because he was reporting the truth about the Saudi leadership, and they don't like that.
A lesson from Tigger and Pooh.
Maybe if he tried to destroy ~~twitter~~ X, he would accidentally save it.
"a global Jewish cabal"
So, does Musk believe in Jewish space lasers as well ?
Basically, he's stuck in 1935.
That explains a lot.
IBM ...Twitter...???
Why'd they ever think it was a good idea to be on it in the first place?
The obvious move
Yaccarino needs to lock Musk's account for promoting hate speech and tarnishing the business image.
If Musk fires her, she'd be leaving with a somewhat redeemed reputation while X loses business and slowly suffocates in debt. If Musk apologizes, Yaccarino is cementing a bit of power and X might survive a little longer.
Freedoms
Let's say it again, boys and girls.
Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequence.
Freedom of speech is also the right of companies to go "I don't like what you're saying" and take their money elsewhere and no amount of sad little tantrums and threats of lawsuits from Manchild Musk will change that.
Re: Freedoms
Now tell that to all the lefties who are now showing their true colours and have lost jobs for making very antisemitic statements and are now throwing epic tantrums.
As for twitter, it has adverts? Good to know my ad blocker is working well.
Re: Freedoms
if your truly antisemitic your a nazi not a leftist
you might be talking about israel criticism which is not antisemitism
same goes for any racism, homophobia, transphobia or any other discrimination
Re: Freedoms
"if your truly antisemitic your a nazi not a leftist"
Same thing. You could also be a communist as they also hated Jews. All left wing authoritarian ideologies.
"you might be talking about israel criticism which is not antisemitism"
No, this is people saying things like 'death to the Jews' in public or saying how they support Hamas or painting swastikas on Jewish owned businesses.
I'm just surprised it took so long for the exodus to begin, given what I keep hearing about how bad the X-Twitter cesspool has begun to reek...
I think that companies have to wait for things to get so bad that almost everyone will agree with their decision. A company like Apple doesn't want to be put into a position where they face some sort of right wing boycott.
Yaccarino is damaged goods
She can't really walk away yet, it's too soon and would look like she misunderstood her role (which wouldn't bode well when looking for another position). On top of that, having taken Musk's poison pill, she's damaged her chances of getting hired by any major company for fear of being somehow linked by association with The Great One himself.
Her best bet - by far - is to hold out for another six months or so then strike a deal with a publisher, hire in a ghost writer and try to make a killing with a 'life under Musk' exposé.