Ads from at least 40 major brands were displayed on accounts Twitter of white supremacists and other neo-Nazis since Elon Musk rehabilitated previously suspended accounts on the platform.
Unsurprisingly, some of these companies, more for PR reasons than their supposed alignment with far-left values, chose to pull their ads from the platform. The Twitter ship, which seems to be sailing by sight, may well rediscover the importance of moderation and content policies on this occasion.
New departures from advertisers
The article of washington post, which surveyed the many advertisements of major brands and other major entities, did not need to conduct extensive research to find it. The forty advertisers cited were spotted on only two profiles: Anglin, the editor of the largest American neo-Nazi website, and Casey, leader of a group of white supremacists. These two accounts, banned from the platform in 2013 for one and in 2019 for the other, only regained their place on the occasion of the great amnesty decided by Elon Musk not long ago.
The US Department of Health, some of whose advertisements have thus been associated with these two characters, among other racist and anti-Semitic groups, has chosen to learn of it to suspend its advertisements on Twitter. It’s just the latest big name to mark the exodus of advertisers that began with the first rumors of Musk’s arrival at the helm. While some of them, notably Apple and Amazon, have since reversed their decision, this does not reverse the trend. And that’s not the rating of America’s two largest advertising agencies, which consider ads on Twitter to be ” very risky for advertisers, which risks reversing the trend.
When Elon Musk discovers that moderation is an economic imperative
It can be argued that Twitter’s former leadership team was closer to Democrats and progressives in general than to Republicans and conservatives, and that’s probably true. However, the moderation teams in place were the result of years of experience, and essential to make the platform sufficiently presentable for advertisers, on which the company’s economic model is based. At his expense, Elon Musk discovers that his kick in the anthill was certainly a great announcement effect, but also one of the worst decisions he could make to ensure the profitability of his new business.
Far from being an absolutist of progressive values, he has nevertheless already taken decisions that contradict his vision of freedom of expression. He had, from the first days of his acquisition, tried to reassure advertisers by promising them that the social network would not become an infernal zone of lawlessness. Rapper Kanye West, who only got his Twitter account back for a short time, immediately wanted to show what he thought of it, tweeting a swastika before being banned from the platform again. As for the neo-Nazi accounts mentioned above, they are still online but no more advertising is displayed there. Between economic success and respect for its values, where is the balance of Elon Musk?
Sources: The Verge, washington post
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