X may lose up to $75 mn of ad revenue as more brands pull out: Report

SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk-run X could lose as much as $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of the year as dozens of major brands pull out their marketing campaigns after the tech billionaire endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory this month, the media reported.

According to the internal documents seen by The New York Times this week, over 200 ad units of companies from the likes of Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and others have halted or are considering pausing their ads on X.

Musk's support for an antisemitic message on the platform last week prompted numerous firms, including Walt Disney and Warner Bros Discovery, to halt advertising on the X.

X has responded by suing non-profit Media Matters, arguing that the organisation defamed the platform with a report alleging that advertisements for major brands such as Apple and Oracle appeared next to messages praising Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.

According to the report, the documents come from X's sales team and are designed to monitor the effects of all the advertising mishaps that took place this month, including those by companies that have already suspended ads and others that may be at risk of doing so.

The documents detail how much ad revenue X employees worry the company could lose by the end of the year if advertisers do not resume their ads.

However, X claimed in a statement on Friday that $11 million in revenue was at risk, with the actual sum fluctuating as some advertisers returned to the platform and others increased spending, the report mentioned.

Meanwhile, a new report has revealed that some super-spreaders of misinformation on X, who are verified premium users with blue badges, are sharing Musk’s ad revenue even after making conspiratorial claims about the Israel-Hamas war.

NewsGuard, a for-profit misinformation watchdog organisation, found that such posts with misinformation reached a collective 92 million views.