Recently, Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, has filed a lawsuit against several of the world’s largest advertisers, including beauty giant Unilever, accusing them of unlawfully conspiring to boycott the platform. The lawsuit claims that these companies, through their actions, have intentionally deprived X of billions of dollars in revenue. Unilever, the maker of popular brands like Dove and Paula’s Choice, is among the firms named in the lawsuit alongside Mars, CVS Health, and Orsted.
Musk, who acquired X (formerly Twitter) in 2022 for $44 billion, took to social media to express his frustration, stating, “We tried being nice for two years and got nothing but empty words. Now, it’s war.” The lawsuit centers around the allegation that a group of advertisers, under the World Federation of Advertisers’ initiative known as the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), engaged in a conspiracy against X that violated U.S. antitrust laws.
X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, also weighed in on the matter, releasing an open letter to advertisers in which she argued that the boycott aimed to deprive X’s users of the “Global Town Square” and undermined the marketplace of ideas. Yaccarino emphasized that the decision to sue was not made lightly but was a direct response to the actions of these advertisers. She pointed to a recent report from the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, which highlighted how GARM and its members had organized boycotts and used indirect tactics to target platforms they disfavored.
Critics of X argue that the platform has become a hub for widespread disinformation, which has driven advertisers away. Musk, however, has repeatedly accused advertisers of trying to “blackmail” him and has been vocal in his disdain for the growing advertising boycott against X. At a New York Times conference, he bluntly told companies participating in the boycott to “go f*** yourself.”
