Elon Musk’s social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), has filed a lawsuit against several major companies, accusing them of unlawfully conspiring to boycott the site and depriving it of billions in advertising revenue.
The lawsuit targets food giants Unilever and Mars, private healthcare company CVS Health, renewable energy firm Orsted, and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). It relates to a period in 2022, right after Musk acquired X, during which the platform saw a significant decline in advertising revenue.
Some companies hesitated to advertise on X due to concerns that Musk was not adequately addressing harmful content on the site. In response to the alleged boycott, X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino stated, “People are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is constricted. No small group of people should monopolize what gets monetized.” Elon Musk tweeted, “We tried being nice for 2 years and got nothing but empty words. Now, it is war.”
The WFA and the accused companies have not yet commented on the lawsuit.
X claims that the accused firms unjustly withheld advertising spending by adhering to safety standards outlined by a WFA initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (Garm), which aims to address illegal or harmful content on digital platforms. X argues that this behavior constituted a conspiracy against the platform and violated U.S. antitrust laws.
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However, legal experts like Bill Baer, former assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s antitrust division, believe the lawsuit is unlikely to succeed, as politically motivated boycotts are typically considered protected speech under the First Amendment. Professor Rebecca Haw Allensworth from Vanderbilt University noted that the boycott was a statement about X’s policies and is also protected by the First Amendment.
X is seeking unspecified damages and a court order to prevent further efforts to withhold advertising spending. The platform claims it has implemented brand-safety standards that are comparable to, or exceed, those of its competitors and meet Garm’s specifications.
The video-sharing platform Rumble, favored by right-wing influencers, also filed a similar lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers.
