Twitter, the original name of X that Elon Musk owns, has sued Global Advertising Alliance and other big companies like Mars and CVS Health. Weibo platform accused them for conspiring to boycott the site illegally that led to loss in revenue.
X has filed a case in the Texas federal court against Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), Danish renewable energy company Orsted and Unilever. A report found evidence of a coordinated boycott against X as well as other companies.
X also argued that this conduct had hurt users on their platform directly. Linda Yaccarino, CEO at X wrote in an open letter: “People suffer when marketplace ideas are limited. Monopolizing anything by a few people is not always ideal”.
For many months after Elon Musk bought Twitter (now X) in 2022 advertising revenue of the firm fell down. Some advertisers hesitate to put their money into ads because they are worried about the possibility that changes to content moderation may associate brands with controversial material.
…It’s War: Elon Musk
In a post on X, Musk asked boycotted brands to file lawsuits. “Everyone who is boycotted should sue in every country where they are boycotted,” he wrote.
Elon Musk reacted to Rumble video’s comment on suing Google made by X: “We tried for 2 years to be friendly and got nothing but empty words Now its war.”
Full text of X CEO’s open letter
Every day hundreds of millions come there- it’s the only global real-time conversation happening right now so they do need conversationalists at home and abroad – go ahead! Share your opinion! Someone else’s too! Post something new or just run through what somebody else already said making everyone participate in debates even if it seems impossible or unnecessary – from time to time it happens when some kind souls start discussing matters concerning entertainment or religion for example but no matter what their goal always remains the same- inspiration.. X is irreplaceable.
I am so thrilled to join X as CEO in June 2023 because of the ability of this huge community to foster a global conversation.
My career in media and advertising had led me to believe I’d seen it all. Then last month, I read a report by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee entitled “The Dangers of GARM (Global Alliance for Responsible Media).” In fact, according to that article which also unveiled illegal boycott activities against multiple companies including X, these were found after their investigations.
According to their report, “The Committee obtained evidence that GARM and its members directly organized boycotts and used other indirect tactics to target disfavored platforms, content creators, and news organizations with a view to demonetization and actually limits some options.”
As such, they wish not only for you but also for sport fans or gamers who like reading about politics; even journalists telling us what’s happening around here since they are supposed to do that anyway if not activists fighting daily battles. The result (and perhaps the intent) of this boycott is an attempt to deprive X’s users whether sports fans, gamers, journalists, activists or parents from accessing global town square where politicians stay connected.
In summary people get hurt when marketplace ideas are hindered or certain opinions aren’t funded through an illegal boycott.
This behavior stains a great industry and must stop now.
Therefore today X has filed an antitrust lawsuit charging Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), CVS Health as well as Mars among others with being a member of GARM. We did not make this decision lightly but took it based on their actions.
These organizations’ misconduct plus that by their executives has resulted in losses worth billions.
Since coming to X, my job is to continue establishing a platform that allows for the progress of individuals, brands and advertisers in an inclusive, dynamic and safe environment.
This has not affected Twitter’s traditional metric “user active minutes” as of August 2022, which saw the users spend 7.2 billion minutes on the platform. It now stands at over 9 billion; a 25% increase from that time.
Videos are no exception – daily video views rose by 45% compared to last year alone – reaching 8.2 billion. This is happening because something big is coming out of X.
We have offered more tools than what was requested by GARM or other advertisers group that will boost advertiser control while increasing product effectiveness resulting into better customer value in our new range of products.
We have demonstrated that our platform provides advertisers with a secure, efficient and cost-effective way to showcase their brands and target their audiences. That is why I work closely with marketers all over the globe in order to display our innovation efforts and address concerns from brands I have worked with for years. Unfortunately, despite all our efforts, hundreds of meetings and research pointing otherwise, many businesses choose not to see it this way.
We tell those who break the law enough is enough.To redress the damage caused by these defendants or potentially others depending on what legal process reveals we had no choice but go before the courts
It’s possible there are others who suffer as a consequence of this conduct. The case involves more than just harm;we must fix this broken ecosystem so that it does not accommodate such illegal actions.
X will go on innovating guaranteeing its bright future and the court system shall hold responsible those involved in illegal conduct.
Thanks again for everyone who helped us through this period of transition. You can be sure we will always fight for our global town squares.
Linda
