Walmart announced on Friday that they will be joining the ranks of big companies refusing to advertise on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Large brands including Apple, Walt Disney, Comcast, IBM, and Warner Bros Discovery announced earlier this month that they would be pulling ads after a Media Matters report claimed that ads are appearing next to antisemitic content.
X has maintained that the Media Matters reporter manipulated the algorithm to serve the ads next to the offensive content and has filed a lawsuit against the outlet.
"We aren't advertising on X as we've found other platforms to better reach our customers," a Walmart spokesperson said, according to a report from Reuters.
The company did not elaborate on their reasoning.
Speaking at a New York Times DealBook event on Wednesday, X owner Elon Musk had said, "If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising money, go f-ck yourself." Elon Musk has a message for all the corporations pulling ad money from X:
"Go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is." pic.twitter.com/9gStlAbjFn
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 29, 2023
“What this advertising boycott is gonna do – it’s going to kill the company,” Musk said. “And the whole world will know those advertisers that killed the company. Everyone will document it in great detail.”
In the lawsuit against Media Matters, X alleges that the nonprofit "knowingly and maliciously manufactured" images depicting advertisers appearing next to posts featuring "Neo-Nazi and white nationalist fringe content."
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, authored a memo reiterating her dedication to the company despite the loss of advertisement revenue.
“There is no other platform that’s working as hard to protect free speech like X. Our work is critical, but it’s not always easy,” she wrote, per The Verge. “While some advertisers may have temporarily paused investments because of a misleading and manipulated article, the data will tell the real story. Because for all of us who work at X, we’ve been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination, as there’s no place for it anywhere in the world.”
