US agri-food ‘giant’ General Mills has suspended advertising on Twitter, in yet another sign of brands’ concern with the social network’s new owner, Elon Musk,’s views on moderating digital content.
“We have suspended advertising on Twitter,” General Mills spokeswoman Kelsey Roemhildt confirmed to France-Presse (AFP).
The group, which includes the Cheerios and Häagen-Dazs brands, said it would continue to “monitor developments and evaluate marketing spending.”
On Friday, a day after the Tesla boss took over Twitter, automaker General Motors said it had temporarily suspended paying for ads on Twitter.
On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal said that Mondelez International (the maker of Oreo cookies), Pfizer and Audi (Volkswagen) had made similar decisions.
Advertisers, who account for 90% of Twitter’s revenue, fear that the liberalization of content moderation rules, championed by Elon Musk, will make the platform inhospitable and that most brands will prefer to avoid associating with content. not consented.
Since Thursday, the businessman has tried to reassure brands, having written a message promising that Twitter would not become an “infernal” platform, “where you can say anything without consequences.”
Musk also promised to form a content moderation board and take a few weeks before allowing people banned from the platform, such as former US President Donald Trump, to return.
However, neither the brands nor various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) seem to be convinced.
A group of nearly 50 democratic and anti-disinformation associations sent an open letter to the top 20 advertisers on Twitter, including Coca-Cola, Google and Disney, asking them to threaten Elon Musk with the suspension of all advertising on the platform, if he does. they do. implements its strategy “to undermine brand safety and community standards, including liquidating content moderation.”
On Wednesday, Elon Musk asked, in a poll of his 113 million subscribers, whether advertisers should “support free speech” or “political correctness.”
Source: TSF
