It's already been established that X will be losing ad sales after several major advertisers left the platform. However, it wasn't until recently that a more concrete estimation emerged, showing that X, formerly Twitter, could lose $75 million just because of Elon Musk's controversial post.
X Losing Tens of Millions in Revenue
After all the news reports about the issue, you've probably already heard about the backlash that the tech billionaire received for his antisemitic remarks. This led to big advertisers like Apple, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and more.
In recent reports, it was revealed that more giants have concluded or at least paused their advertising business on X including Netflix, Microsoft, and Airbnb. As the number of advertisers leaving the site piles up, the company can lose up to $75 million in ad revenue this year.
With Airbnb pausing its ads, X is losing $1 million worth of advertising. With Netflix, the ad sales lost are up to $3 million. Microsoft's exit can cost X up to $4 million, especially since it's also pulling ads for its many subsidiaries.
According to internal documents, over 100 brands have already joined the advertisers' exodus, along with political candidates, as mentioned in Engadget. There are already several others who are considering leaving the social media site as well.
Some of the companies that left did so expressing that they do not agree with Elon Musk's views, while others were concerned that their ads might appear next to antisemitic or other forms of controversial content.
One of the companies that specifically mentioned Musk's post as the reason they left was Lionsgate. Others have not specified why they decided to halt ads, but the timing makes it likely that their reasons are similar.
Media Matters was the first to show that antisemitic posts were next to certain ads, which could greatly affect the brand. X responded by filing a lawsuit, accusing the media watchdog of "knowingly and maliciously" manufacturing side-by-side images of ad posts and insensitive content.
Read Also : Ubisoft Joins the Advertisers' Exodus from X
Context for the Controversial Post
An X user posted that the Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of "dialectical hatred against whites" that they claim people want to use against them. The tech billionaire replied to this in agreement, saying: "You have said the actual truth."
This was the beginning of X's continuing loss of advertisers. X CEO Linda Yaccarino continues to defend the platform, saying that the exits were just "temporarily paused investments." She also pointed out that this was caused by an article that was "misleading and manipulated."
As mentioned in The Verge, Yaccarino continues to paint X in a good light, saying that they have been extremely clear about their efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. Musk, on the other hand, is also trying to put out the fire that he started.
In a tweet, the X owner claims that there have been hundreds of bogus media stories claiming that he was antisemitic, and that "nothing could be further from the truth." Evidently, this wasn't enough damage control as advertisers still chose to leave X.
