Musk's X fails with lawsuit against rogue advertisers

Musk's platform went to court in August 2024. Its allegations were directed against well-known companies such as consumer goods giant Unilever, food company Mars and toy manufacturer Lego, as well as an association of advertisers.

The companies had reduced or completely stopped their advertising activities on Twitter and later X - out of concern that their ads could appear alongside extremist posts in a reputationally damaging context following Musk's relaxation of the rules for content.

Ad revenue halved

Musk repeatedly complained that advertising revenue had roughly halved as a result of the migration of large and small advertisers following his takeover of Twitter in October 2022.

In the lawsuit, X spoke of a coordinated boycott and a violation of competition law. Dozens of members of an international organization of advertisers had colluded to deprive X of several billion US dollars. The lawsuit took particular aim at an industry initiative that set requirements for advertising platforms.

Musk later incorporated the X platform into his AI company xAI, which in turn was taken over by SpaceX, another space company he runs. This means that X is no longer solely dependent on its own business or cash injections directly from Musk for its continued existence.