Samuel O'Brient
4 min read
In This Article:
With all the problems Tesla is facing, it can be easy to forget that Elon Musk is fighting other battles. He’s currently in the throes of a vicious lawsuit involving one of his other companies.
When Musk finalized his acquisition of Twitter, now called X, in October 2022, it sparked a backlash that extended beyond the platform’s users. Many people deleted their accounts in protest of Musk’s beliefs on certain topics, but some companies also took a stand against him.
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In the months that followed his takeover, a large number of companies halted advertising on X amid reports of offensive content and declining user activity. This included prominent companies such as Lego, Shell, and Nestlé, to name just a few.
Musk responded with a lawsuit against these former clients, alleging that they had illegally boycotted his platform. However, the defendants have hit back with some strong words.
Even before Musk assumed control of what would become X, some people raised concerns about what it would mean for the platform. For some, it meant a likely mass exodus of users, as many people have expressed concern that Musk would create a hostile environment, despite his claims to support free speech.
Related: Elon Musk gets devastating news as the 'anti-Tesla' catches on
It didn’t take long for advertising clients to start walking away, though, nor for Musk to feel the impact. One year later, the platform’s advertising revenue had reportedly plunged by roughly $1.5 billion, described by a source as a “significant slump from prior years.”
From Musk’s perspective, the decision to stop advertising on X seemed to be a deliberate conspiracy orchestrated by a group of companies with illicit intentions. As he put it, their actions resulted in X ending up “a less effective competitor to other social media platforms in the sale of digital advertising and in competing for user engagement on its platform.”
In July 2024, Musk posted to X that his company would be filing a lawsuit against the companies that had boycotted advertising on his platform, saying he hoped some states would consider prosecuting them criminally.
Musk’s case alleges that these companies had joined an initiative titled Global Alliance of Responsible Media (GARM), which could be seen as conspiring to “collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising.” Created in 2019 to promote digital safety as part of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), GARM has not been active since August 2024.
