Elon Musk's legal battle: Platform X sues advertisers for boycotts
Platform X, formerly known as Twitter, sued a group of advertisers on Tuesday, claiming that "their mass boycott" deprived the company of billions of dollars in revenue, according to the Associated Press. "Now it's war," commented X's owner, billionaire Elon Musk.
The advertisers' actions allegedly took place after Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter at the end of 2022.
Platform X filed a lawsuit in federal court in Texas against the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and companies Unilever, Mars, CVS Health, and Orsted. It accused the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), an initiative of the WFA, of helping coordinate the exodus of advertisers following Musk's $44 billion purchase of Twitter. The suit also alleged a violation of antitrust laws.
Elon Musk "stopped being nice"
"Now it's war," wrote Elon Musk on Platform X. He added that two years after acquiring the platform, he "stopped being nice," because during this period he "received (from advertisers) only empty words."
Platform X CEO Linda Yaccarino stated that the lawsuit is partially based on evidence revealed by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which she believes showed that "a group of companies organized a systematic illegal boycott" of X.
The Republican-led committee held a hearing in July to analyze whether current legal provisions are sufficient to prevent "collusion among online advertisers."
