X may lose up to $75M by year-end on advertiser exodus – NYT

‘X’ logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, U.S., July 30, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File photo

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

Musk backing an antisemitic post on the platform last week has led several companies including Walt Disney and Warner Bros Discovery to pause their advertisements on the site formerly called Twitter.

X has struck back and sued media watchdog group Media Matters, alleging the organization defamed the platform with a report that said ads for major brands including Apple and Oracle had appeared next to posts touting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.

Internal documents viewed by The New York Times this week list more than 200 ad units of companies from the likes of Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, many of which have halted or are considering pausing their ads on the social network, the report said.

X said on Friday $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, resulting in a sharp rise in hate speech on the site, according to civil rights groups.

The platform’s U.S. ad revenue has declined at least 55 percent year-over-year each month since Musk’s takeover, Reuters previously reported.