X has added several major brands to a massive lawsuit alleging an advertising industry group illegally conspired to boycott the social media platform after it was bought by billionaire Elon Musk, according to reports.
The company formerly known as Twitter added Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive, Tyson Foods, Shell, Pinterest, Lego and Abbott Laboratories to its lawsuit Saturday, alleging they partook in a World Federation of Advertisers-coordinated (WFA) boycott of X that violated antitrust laws, the Wall Street Journal reported.
They are just some of the brands X claims banded together to pull advertising after Musk purchased the company in 2022 and vowed to strip away content restrictions in an effort to preserve free speech.
Shortly after the Tesla CEO began overhauling the platform, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) — an initiative of the WFA to keep brands’ ads away from harmful content on loosely regulated websites — raised concerns to its member companies that X would not be able to adhere to its safety standards.
That communication unleashed a “massive advertiser boycott that followed,” X’s lawsuit claimed.
Trouble with advertisers started shortly after Musk bought the social media company. By 2023, its ad revenue had sharply declined as major players like Amazon started pulling their placements.
Other companies previously named in the lawsuit include CVS, the Amazon-owned social media company Twitch, CVS Health, Mars, and the Danish power company Orsted.
Unilever was also named in the lawsuit, but it was removed after reaching a settlement with X.
As advertisers jumped ship following his takeover, Musk bluntly said companies avoiding X could “go f**k yourself.”
X opened its lawsuit in August 2024, and days later WFA ended the GARM initiative.
Some companies have been returning to X since Musk worked his way into President Trump’s inner circle. Amazon, for instance, has been increasing its ad presence on the platfrom, according to the Journal.
The WFA has previously said that X’s lawsuit misses the point of the organization and left it financially gutted.
“GARM is a small, not-for-profit initiative, and recent allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities have caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances,” the group said after it disbanded GARM.
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