Elon Musk’s X Faces Potential $75 Million Ad Revenue Loss Amidst Controversy Over Antisemitic Content

X, the social platform previously identified as Twitter, tends to experience peak earnings in the final months of the year, fueled by increased advertising efforts from brands during the holiday shopping season.

The New York Times reports that the company’s earnings for this quarter could deviate from the norm. Internal documents suggest that over 100 brands, including political candidates, have completely halted their ads on the website. Additionally, numerous others are contemplating withdrawing their campaigns. If advertisers do not return, X might face a potential loss of up to $75 million in ad revenue this year.

The documents purportedly detail the impact on X when brands exit the platform, particularly those that paused ads following Elon Musk’s tweet endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Following Musk’s tweet, Media Matters revealed ads adjacent to antisemitic content on the platform. X responded with a lawsuit against Media Matters, alleging the intentional creation of misleading images juxtaposing advertisers’ posts with Neo-Nazi and white nationalist fringe content.

X alleged in its complaint that Media Matters intentionally crafted a setting to display ads from major platform advertisers alongside “extreme, fringe content.” Linda Yaccarino, the CEO, supported X in a statement, asserting that only two users witnessed Apple’s ad juxtaposed with objectionable content, with Media Matters being one of them. The organization deemed X’s lawsuit “frivolous” and expressed confidence in prevailing in court.

IBM, Apple, and Disney swiftly withdrew their ads from X following the incidents. Lionsgate cited Musk’s tweet as the reason for suspending its advertising, while Ubisoft was among the first video game companies to pull its ads from X. Airbnb paused over $1 million in advertising, and Netflix withdrew $3 million. Microsoft’s subsidiaries pausing campaigns could result in X losing $4 million in ad revenue. Notably, Uber and Coca-Cola have also chosen to put their advertising on X on hold.