Elon Musk’s antisemitic comments cost X $75 million

Following the comments made by the CEO of Tesla Elon Musk supporting the antisemitic conspiracy theory, a number of advertisers left X (formerly Twitter), costing the social media platform hundreds of billions of won.

Citing an internal document of the sales team of X, the New York Times reported on Friday (local time) that X experienced sales loss due to the loss of advertisers, which is estimated to be up to 75 million dollars. According to the document, over 200 companies and organizations, including Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft, have suspended or are considering the suspension of advertisements on X. The document estimated how much advertising revenue loss could incur to X until the end of this year if the advertisers don’t come back. However, X explained that advertising revenue currently at risk is 11 million dollars and that the document is only internal data to assess the overall risk.

The advertising income of X in the U.S. decreased by 60 percent this year as it was believed that hate speech on the platform increased after Musk acquired Twitter for 44 billion dollars in October last year. Musk hired Linda Yaccarino, a former chairman of global advertising & partnerships for NBCUniversal, as the CEO of X in May this year to pursue reform, leading to advertisers' return. However, they are leaving the platform again as Musk posted comments supporting the antisemitic conspiracy theory, and Media Matters for America, a media watchdog group, pointed out that advertisements of major companies are placed next to posts supporting Nazism on X.


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