Twitter has lost 50 of its top 100 advertisers since Elon Musk took over
More than 50% of the top 100 advertisers on Twitter appear to no longer be using social media networks to promote their products. These 50 advertisers have spent about $2 billion on Twitter commercials since 2020, including more than $750 million just this year, according to research from Media Matters for America. The research, which was released on Tuesday, claims that a growing number of companies have reduced their advertising to nearly nothing. Since 2020, these businesses have given Twitter more than $255 million.
Significant companies like Chevrolet, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., Ford, Jeep, Kyndryl, Merck & Co., and Novartis AG all made announcements about halting Twitter marketing or were rumored to have done so. For a “considerable amount of time following direct outreach, controversies, and warnings from media buyers,” the other advertisers ceased running ads on the platform.
According to the report, Twitter CEO Elon Musk has “continued his rash of brand-unsafe actions,” including “amplifying conspiracy theories, unilaterally reinstating banned accounts like that of former President Donald Trump, courting and engaging with far-right accounts, and instituting a haphazard verification scheme that allowed extremists and scammers to purchase a blue check,” among other things.
The new commercialized verification mechanism has drawn criticism from a number of well-known Twitter users, including author Stephen King. It was simple to check the legitimacy of a tweet thanks to the symbol used to authenticate Twitter accounts. The day after a fake account posing as the pharmaceutical business posted, “We are delighted to announce insulin is free now,” Eli Lilly & Co. stopped running advertisements on Twitter.
The tweet was left up for several hours despite Eli Lilly’s request for Twitter to take it down since the company’s staff was extremely understaffed as a result of recent attrition and resignations. Eli Lilly’s shares soon fell as the tweet received thousands of likes and hundreds of retweets.