Washington Post Becomes Latest Company to Stop Ads On Twitter/X Amid Musk Controversies
The Washington Post put a “pause” on its ad spending on Elon Musk’s Twitter/X, reported the Washingtonian’s Andrew Beaujon on Tuesday.
Major advertisers have been abandoning X in recent weeks after a string of anti-Semitism controversies surrounding Elon Musk and his online posts. On Tuesday Musk continued his controversial behavior and shared a meme embracing the widely debunked “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory spread by the likes of far-right personality Jack Posobiec. Musk later deleted the tweet.
Beaujon reported that a Post spokesperson confirmed the ad pause, but that “the spokesperson wasn’t able to confirm how much the Post spent advertising on Twitter/X but said the decision is effective this week and that its ads should stop running on Musk’s platform soon. Twitter did not immediately reply to a request for comment.”
The Post’s well-known tech journalist Taylor Lorenz wrote on Threads Sunday that she had contacted her paper’s ad department. “I asked WaPo’s advertising team for comment on why they continue to fund Musk for this most recent story I did with colleagues on rising anti semitism, and they declined to respond.”
CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy has been tracking the companies to stop advertising on Twitter. “The exodus from Elon Musk’s X is bleeding beyond advertisers,” Darcy wrote Monday, adding:
Accounts belonging to Disney, Paramount, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery have stopped posting on the platform. Some are now active on Threads.
Sources familiar with the social media strategies of Paramount and WBD confirmed that it’s no accident: the companies have made the active decision to stop posting under certain handles on X due to concerns, including brand safety.
The Post confirmed it was pausing its ads on X in an article by Drew Harwell on Musk boosting the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, titled, “Elon Musk boosts Pizzagate conspiracy theory that led to D.C. gunfire.”
