Walmart Joins List of Major Advertisers Boycotting Ads on X
Walmart has decided to pull its ads from Elon Musk’s social media platform X due to concerns about hate speech and a preference for other platforms to reach their customers. This decision follows a recent outburst from Musk, where he accused companies who have stopped advertising on X of “blackmail.”
The retail giant has stated that they are choosing to advertise on other platforms to better reach their customers. Walmart is now part of a growing list of companies, including Walt Disney Co., IBM, NBCUniversal, and Comcast, who have chosen to cease advertising on X. This is due to the lax content moderation on X, leading to concerns among advertisers about their ads appearing alongside inappropriate content.
Elon Musk acknowledged the potential financial consequences of this and admitted that it could lead to bankruptcy for X. However, he blamed the brands involved in the boycott rather than himself. Analysts have expressed concerns that additional companies may join the trend of pausing advertisements on X, complicating the platform’s financial prospects. The monthly ad revenue of X in the United States has witnessed a notable decline since Musk took over in October 2022, with reports showing at least a 55% year-over-year decrease each month.
This financial downturn is said to intensify the challenges for X’s subscription initiatives, potentially requiring more than half of its revenue to be generated from subscriptions in order to compensate for the decrease in ad revenue.
Despite the controversy, X’s Head of Operations noted the platform’s substantial user base, highlighting Walmart’s community of over a million people on X. With half a billion users on the platform, X garners 15 billion impressions annually during the holiday season alone, while over 50% of X users conduct the majority or entirety of their online shopping on the platform.
It’s clear that the move by Walmart to pull ads from X is having reverberating effects on the platform, and there are concerns about the future financial viability of X due to the ongoing advertiser boycott.
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