After acquiring Twitter, Musk experienced a large-scale advertiser exodus. After months of rectification and negotiation, the social platform renamed X recently claimed that most advertisers have returned. But unfortunately, a new round of departure seems to have begun again.
IBM announced on Thursday that it immediately suspended all advertisements placed on X after discovering that company advertisements appeared next to Hitler's Nazi comments. The company stated that it adopts a zero tolerance attitude towards hate speech and discrimination and is investigating this completely unacceptable situation.
According to the supervisory organization Media Matters, IBM is one of the five major brand customers of the X platform. Other important customers of the X platform include Apple, NBC Universal Media, Bravo Magazine, Oracle, and Xfinity Communications.
There are reports that IBM has reduced its advertising spending on the X platform by approximately $1 million in the last quarter of this year.
Liberal style riots
The employees of X platform stated on Thursday that they have received phone calls from some advertisers asking why Musk made remarks against Jews on public platforms and why their advertisements appeared next to anti Semitic content.
On Wednesday, surfing guru Musk launched a fierce attack on anti Semitism related topics on X, igniting the enthusiasm of melon eating netizens and sensitive individuals. In one of the replies, Musk agreed with the view that the Jewish community is inciting hatred towards the white people, which has sparked outrage among the Jewish community and pro Jewish groups.
Regarding the mess that Musk has caused this time, X CEO Linda Yaccarino responded urgently on Thursday, stating that X's attitude has always been very clear and that no one should discriminate against others. X is also very clear about its responsibility in combating anti Semitism and limiting discrimination.
Insiders revealed that this month, a sales employee of X marked posts with obvious anti Semitic colors that had not been deleted by X, and Yaccarino subsequently requested a review of these posts. But the employees who marked these contents seem to have resigned.
There are also reports that sales personnel within X are waiting for senior management to decide on how to respond to customers' doubts about Musk's remarks.
An employee stated that many large advertising agencies were mentioned in an agency report, where their advertisements appeared next to posts featuring white nationalist and Nazi views, causing a negative impact on the image of the advertisers and threatening their collaboration on X.
The X salesperson responsible for coordinating with Apple said she was very concerned, and Apple also asked her if some of her posts were maliciously manipulated. Another employee responded that X's trust and security team had previously experienced layoffs and resignations, and is now working hard to investigate related issues.