Elon Musk And X Threaten Advertisers To Return To Advertising, This Tactics Works

The owner of platform X, Elon Musk, threatens advertisers to return to advertising (photo: x i @stalip77)

JAKARTA - Elon Musk's social media platform X reportedly pressured advertisers to return to advertising with threats of legal action. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, a number of large companies such as Verizon and Ralph Lauren received messages hinting that they would be sued if they did not issue an ad budget in X again.

Elon Musk and CEO X, Linda Yaccarino, now have a controversial new approach in wooing advertisers: 'Peddle your ad budget on our platform, or we'll take you to court.'

It all started with Verizon. The big US telecommunications company received an unusual message from X that reads, 'Buy your ad budget with us or we'll meet you in court.'

Since being taken over by Musk in October 2022, X has had difficulty withdrawing advertisers, who have left for various reasons, especially those related to Musk's actions and statements.

Surprisingly, this threat tactic worked. Verizon, who previously no longer advertised on X since Musk's acquisition, is now committed to spending $10 million to advertise on the platform so far this year, according to sources familiar with the deal.

Verizon is not the only one. Ralph Lauren also received similar threats. According to the WSJ, at least six companies received messages with the tone of the threat. The agreement reached with these companies includes commitments to spending binding advertising and non-binding spending targets.

Scary Tactics For Marketers

With Elon Musk's big influence including 221 million followers on platform X and a strong relationship in Washington this kind of tactic has become a frightening thing for the marketing world. Although Musk is said to have clashed with Donald Trump (who is still in question), he still has a broad network of influence, including access to government officials.

In August 2024, X sued the World Federation of Advertisers and a number of major advertisers on charges of illegally boycotting the platform. In the lawsuit, X alleges that advertisers are jointly conspiring to stop advertising spending, which is considered to violate antitrust laws.

This legal step is part of X's pressure strategy. An internal source said that X had threatened to include Verizon in the lawsuit if he did not immediately start issuing an advertising budget. The same tactics are also allegedly applied to a number of other companies.