After the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary released a report accusing the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) of colluding with companies to censor conservative voices online, Elon Musk chimed in. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk wrote that X “has no choice but to file suit against the perpetrators and collaborators” behind an advertiser boycott on his platform.
“Hopefully, some states will consider criminal prosecution,” Musk wrote, leading several X users to suggest that Musk wants it to be illegal for brands to refuse to advertise on X.
Among other allegations, Congress’ report claimed that GARM—which is part of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), whose members “represent roughly 90 percent of global advertising spend, or almost one trillion dollars annually”—directed advertisers to boycott Twitter shortly after Musk took over the platform.
Twitter/X’s revenue tanked after Musk’s takeover, with Bloomberg reporting last month that X lost almost 40 percent of revenue in the first six months of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. That’s worse than prior estimates last May, which put Twitter’s loss around one-third of its total valuation. Ars chronicled the worst impacts of the ad boycott, including sharp drop-offs in the US, where an internal Twitter presentation leaked to The New York Times showed Twitter’s ad revenue was down by as much as 59 percent “for the five weeks from April 1 to the first week of May” in 2023.
Last year, Musk sued other “collaborators” in the X boycott, including hate speech researchers, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), and Media Matters for America (MMFA). However, his suit against the CCDH was dismissed this March, and Media Matters has claimed that Musk filing his MMFA lawsuit in Texas may be “fatal” because of a jurisdictional defect.
Man who claims hes a libertarian wants government to punish those who don’t give him money.
For something that isn’t a crime. Why are we feeding this troll attention? Let him fall off the face of the earth and all his “projects” fail.
With the way Tesla is tanking, I’ll say
fall off the face of the earth
It ain’t flat.
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Fuck round earth, fuck flat earth, I’m “Italian Sub Compact earth” all the way
If they were making shit up to get people to drop Twitter, maybe there’d be a case, and I half believe Musk believes his nonsense so believes they are.
But they aren’t.
He’s also now donating to Trump, who I believe absolutely will punish people for Musk, if elected.
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Everyone knows that only counts if you’re brown
What’s this? Another petty tyrant king demanding taxes from his serfs? These billionaires are fucked up in the head. They can’t just sit back, killing their livers, getting drunk and wasted on drugs on their yachts. No, they have to bend the world to their will at the expense of everyone else living in it. Even then, that isn’t enough.
And now you know why he’s donating to the Trump campaign.
Because with the shift of power with project 2025 he can actually do this.
But the free market…
Can X sue Musk for telling advertisers to go fuck themselves rather than addressing their concerns over his dumpster fire decisions?
If he doesn’t like being blackmailed he could always just fund Twitter himself.
Man I’m super glad this guy can’t run for president
For now. You know what the Supreme Court will be paid to do.
I can even outline it now. They will argue it violates the civil rights amendment which as it came later means it has higher priority over what came earlier. Then they will find some letter written by a random Founding Father arguing that the law should be written to only apply to members of nobility. There you go an Originalist argument against plain reading.
Lol
advertising is the only competitive market left. I guess its easier for his ego to rationalize that everyone is teaming up against him than admit he’s a moron.
When a business blames its customers for choosing to no longer be its customers, it’s a sure sign the business is declining. Depending on the severity, it’s often a sign the business is failing.
This applies here, as well as any time you see an article that millennials are killing <business/industry/etc>. It also applies when an entertainer blames their (potential) audience for not enjoying their work. See Jerry Seinfeld, Kid Rock, etc.
No one owes your business any patronage.
Didn’t Musk tell his advertisers to leave the platform if they didn’t like Twitter anymore? Wouldn’t that alone make any tort dead upon filing?
Yeah it ties up a few billable hours but we’re not exactly talking about companies that can’t afford it.
Didn’t he tell them to “go fuck yourselves”?
Yeah, he said something like “You try to blackmail me? With money? Go fuck yourselves”.
Til not buying things is blackmailing companies
I could have sworn I read that Musk was a free speech absolutist. Freedom for me but not for thee?
This is the case with literally every conservative crowing about “free speech”. They want full freedom for themselves so that no matter what they say there can’t be any negative consequences or reactions, and everybody else can get fucked and die in an extermination camp
and the home of the braaaaaaave!
*some terms and conditions apply, bravery not available in most areas
Their obsession with “freeze peach” has always been a facade to their true desire which is to censor opposing viewpoints and make their viewpoints the only form of acceptable speech.
You’ll note that everything outside those bounds is “woke” and unacceptable
Boycotts are speech. Calling for boycotts is speech. I’ve been told by every corporate leader and the Supreme Court that spending money is a form of speech. I would think that a free speech advocate would appreciate these things. Of course, like all outspoken libertarians, Musk’s positions are not well considered, consistent, nor actually libertarian when it doesn’t suit his own business or ideological* interests. This dude sucks at everything he does and his success perfectly demonstrates the fallacy of meritocracy in this society.
- usually racist
