Musk declares "war" on advertisers boycotting X

Elon Musk's company X (Twitter) has filed a lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM, an association of brands and advertising agencies), as well as the World Federation of Advertisers, for a "systematic illegal boycott" of the social network, announced X CEO Linda Yaccarino. Musk wrote on the social network, "For two years we tried peace, now it’s war." He recommended that every company "systematically boycotted by advertisers" file a lawsuit.

In addition to the associations themselves, lawsuits have been filed against their individual members — among them, Financial Times (FT) names product manufacturers Unilever and Mars, as well as the American pharmacy chain CVS Health. According to Yaccarino, the actions of these companies have harmed not only the social network but also its users.

"All these actions contradicted the unilateral personal interests of advertisers; they only made economic sense in furthering a conspiracy, carried out with the assurance that competing advertisers were doing the same," the complaint reads, according to Axios.

As FT notes, X filed the lawsuit after the House Judiciary Committee, led by Republicans, published a report last month claiming that GARM and its members "colluded" to boycott Twitter after Musk's acquisition, limiting consumer choice in violation of antitrust laws. GARM co-founder Rob Rakowitz rejected the claims, insisting along with others that brands have the right to decide where to spend their "advertising dollars."

The social network's problems with advertisers began after Musk bought it in 2022. Due to new moderation policies and staff cuts, a number of companies, including Apple, suspended their advertising. Last summer, Musk rebranded Twitter as X and abandoned the bird logo. At that time, he reported a drop in advertising revenue of about 50%.

In the fall, a scandal erupted after Musk publicly supported a post by an X user claiming that Jews "promote hatred against white people." Following this, companies such as Disney, Warner Bros., Apple, IBM, and Comcast announced an advertising boycott of the social network.