Elon Musk’s X may lose $75M by year’s end amid advertiser flight: report

Elon Musk’s X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, may lose up to $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of the year as major brands pause marketing spending on the site, according to a report by the New York Times.

Internal X documents reviewed by the New York Times reportedly showed more than 200 ad units of major brands like Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola and Microsoft that have either halted or considered pausing ad spending on the platform.

X said on Friday that $11 million in revenue was at risk and the exact figure fluctuated due to some advertisers returning to the platform and others increasing their spending, according to the report by the Times. Reuters previously reported that X’s ad revenue has declined at least 55% year-over-year each month since Musk’s takeover.

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Elon Musk’s X may lose $75 million in advertising revenue this year as advertisers balk over the platform’s content moderation policies. (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via / Getty Images)

X has struggled with advertisers balking at Musk’s cuts to content moderation since his ownership group acquired the company and took it private in a $44 billion deal a year ago. 

Those woes mounted after a report by left-wing group Media Matters alleged the company ran ads for major brands alongside pro-Nazi posts and other antisemitic content.

IBM, Apple and Lionsgate Entertainment were among the brands that paused advertising on the X platform amid the controversy.

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X, formerly Twitter, has struggled to retain its advertising base since Musk’s ownership group completed their takeover last year. (Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via / Getty Images)

An executive at X previously told FOX Business the social media platform’s system was “not intentionally placing a brand actively next to this type of content, nor is a brand actively training to support this content with placement.”

The executive further explained that ads follow the people on X. In the case of Media Matters, the executive suggested, the content was following the research being conducted. “As it relates to the platform itself, control settings are in place there for every user and every brand,” the executive said.

In response to the controversy, X filed a lawsuit against Media Matters, alleging that the report defamed X and relied on manipulating the platform’s algorithm to get those ads to appear next to antisemitic content.

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Elon Musk has pushed back on allegations that he’s antisemitic. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via / Getty Images)

Additionally, Musk has feuded with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) over its claims of rampant antisemitism on X and last week he appeared to express agreement with a post that claimed Jewish communities have spread “hatred against whites.” 

“You have said the actual truth,” Musk wrote. “The ADL unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel. This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat.”

Musk conceded in response to a critic who accused him and the original poster of generalizing the Jewish community, “[T]his does not extend to all Jewish communities, but it is also not just limited to ADL.”

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Musk later pushed back on allegations that he’s antisemitic and he’s reportedly planning a trip to Israel.

“This past week, there were hundreds of bogus media stories claiming that I am antisemitic,” he wrote. “Nothing could be further from the truth. I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.”

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FOX Business’s Greg Wehner and Reuters contributed to this report.