Major Companies Are Threatening Elon Musk in an Attempt to Keep Trump Off of Twitter: Report

By Abby Liebing October 28, 2022 at 12:19pm

Elon Musk now owns Twitter after officially closing the $44 billion deal on Thursday. But now that the social media giant is under new management, some advertisers and companies are concerned about how Musk will operate the platform.

There have been concerns among some advertisers about Musk’s plans to reinstate those who were previously banned from Twitter, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Particularly, some are hesitant about the possibility of former President Donald Trump being back on Twitter.

In May, Musk indicated at a Financial Times live questionnaire that he would let Trump back on.

Now, in light of previous comments and Musk’s new ownership, some brands are getting jumpy about the possibility of Trump coming back, the Journal reported.

Given the palpable leftist anger on Twitter, it’s of little surprise companies are wary of potential backlash:

BREAKING: Right-wing billionaire Elon Musk promises advertisers that Twitter won’t become a “free-for-all hellscape” although that’s exactly what it will become when he lets the racist trolls, Nazis, and Donald Trump back. RT IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE HIM!

— Occupy Democrats (@OccupyDemocrats) October 27, 2022

GroupM, which is a media and marketing agency, told the Journal that nearly a dozen of their major clients have told the company to pull their ads off of Twitter if Trump is reinstated. These threats of pulling ads likely have some weight behind them, given the visceral reaction noted above.

Are you more likely to use Twitter if Trump returns?

But just after his official acquisition, Musk issued a statement to advertisers to clarify his intentions for Twitter and notify them that he is ready to work with them to have a platform for everyone.

Though Musk has already been shaking up Twitter with a slew of firings, which included the company’s CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal, he told advertisers that he is not going to turn Twitter into the wild west of social media where anyone can say anything, completely unmoderated, the Journal reported.

“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence. There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society,” Musk tweeted in a statement on Thursday directed to concerned advertisers.

“That said, Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!,” he added.

Dear Twitter Advertisers pic.twitter.com/GMwHmInPAS

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022

“Fundamentally, Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world that strengthens your brand and grows your enterprise. To everyone who has partnered with us, I thank you. Let us build something extraordinary together,” Musk’s statement added.

Advertising is a huge part of Twitter’s revenue, and therefore, something that Musk cannot ignore, many have noted.

About 85 percent of Twitter’s revenue comes from advertising, Seeking Alpha reported.

In 2021 alone, the social media platform made more than $4.3 billion just from advertising, Seeking Alpha added.

Musk has not specified, now that he owns Twitter, whether he would allow Trump back or not. His comments in the spring, as even he noted at the time, were all before the actual fact of his ownership came about.

Trump himself already said in April, before Musk’s comments, that he would not return to Twitter anyway, Fox News reported.

The former president said he wanted to focus on his own social media platform, Truth Social.

“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH. I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH,” Trump told Fox.

In the meantime, as advertisers prepare for a new era of Twitter under Musk, Sarah Personette, the chief customer officer of the platform, did tweet on Thursday after Musk issued his statement to advertisers, that she had previously spoken with Musk and things looked promising for advertisers’ futures with Twitter.

Had a great discussion with @elonmusk last evening! Our continued commitment to brand safety for advertisers remains unchanged. Looking forward to the future! https://t.co/B7NFJhD2hq

— Sarah Personette (@SEP) October 27, 2022

“Had a great discussion with @elonmusk last evening!” Personette posted. “Our continued commitment to brand safety for advertisers remains unchanged. Looking forward to the future!”

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